Harry Potter and the Triwizard Gauntlet
by Garrick Ollivander
Summary: *HARRY POTTER AND THE POWER HE KNOWS NOT: THE BETTER VERSION OF THIS STORY IS UP* The events of the Quidditch World Cup gave Harry an unwelcome taste of war. Now, he's determined to make himself stronger at any cost. The upcoming Triwizard Gauntlet is an excellent opportunity and Harry is bent on winning. Ron bashing, Powerful!Harry, may be upgraded to M later on, Harry/Hermione.
1. Hogwarts

**Disclaimer: See the prologue.**

 **Chapter One: Hogwarts**

 **A/N: 12/5/16: I forgot about Harry's wand, sorry! It was burned to ashes. I will be writing a new chapter to be uploaded on Wednesday if we're lucky. It's Harry's memory of the trip to Diagon Alley. Also! I'll give you a hint about Harry's wand: A phoenix core, what does a phoenix do when it burns?**

o0O0o

One week after the World Cup, Harry crossed the barrier onto platform 9 ¾.

"Harry!" an excited Hermione called from across the platform, pushing her way towards them through the thin crowd of students yet to board the train. As soon as she had passed all of the remaining children she bounded to Harry, flying the last few steps into Harry's surprised grasp.

"Hermione? You seem awfully excited." Harry whispered into her ear, sending the young witch into a deep blush. Ron scowled, muttering something too quiet for Harry to hear. Hermione released Harry, still blushing, and took both boys by the hand.

Ron seemed frustrated. "Bloody hell, Hermione. What's got you so excited? Have you somehow taken your O.W.L.s early?" Ron's voice held a tone of annoyance and he released a long-suffering sigh.

"Well, Ron, I've got it on good authority that there's a special event this year. I haven't been told anything too specific but I know it's a tournament of some sort." she lectured.

Harry groaned and rolled his eyes, thinking, 'Can't we have a normal year for once? First the problem with our Voldemort-possessed teacher and then a problem with a Voldemort-possessed student and most recently a problem with a Voldemort-serving rat. When I get my hands on Voldemort I'm going to kill him.' He didn't realize how prophetic his words were.

A few minutes later the trio was sat in a lonely compartment, idly chatting as the Express picked up speed towards the school. The moment Ron stepped into the corridor to take a trip to the restroom, Hermione eyed Harry with a worried look.

"Harry, what was that earlier when I mentioned the tournament? Aren't you excited?" she asked, standing to sit back down next to Harry.

"Of course I'm excited for it, 'Mione. It's just… Can't we have a normal year for once? It'd be lovely to finally just enjoy school and learn. I know I'm fairly good at our subjects, but I can't imagine how much I've missed due to the teachers' inconsistencies." Harry complained with a tinge of longing and exasperation in his voice.

Hermione leaned against Harry tiredly, saying, "I know what you mean, Harry. It drives me crazy, but it does give me an excuse to study the subjects on my own. And," Hermione gave him a long look, "when did you start calling me "'Mione"? Not that I mind it… Honestly, I do kind of enjoy it."

Harry's cheeks flushed, slightly embarrassed. He went completely silent and simply enjoyed hanging out with his friend. Some time later Ron reentered the cabin, sending a sour look at the closeness between the two. He knew that expression well, he saw it when he went to make a withdrawal from Gringotts, he had seen it when he was called to the Headmaster's office, he had even seen it when he had slain the basilisk. It was Ron's outward face of his jealousy, a writhing beast that Ron had always held inside of him.

Harry could sympathise with Ron, he could relate to Ron's problems. Having 5 older brothers and a younger sister who was adored must be pretty hard. Everything was second hand and worn, Harry had seen that much first-hand. Harry definitely understood after all the time he had lived with his whale of a cousin and his family. But Ron didn't understand, he just saw the accolades and gold and fame.

Harry was getting a little sick of his fame and he would be happy to let Ron have the spotlight. Hermione had fallen asleep on Harry's shoulder, her arm and hand unconsciously intertwining with his. Ron sat across from him, sparing obviously jealous looks at Hermione.

Several uncomfortable silent hours came and went, the trolley passing with Harry acquiring some sweets for himself and some to share with Hermione when she woke. That time came when the door slammed open, startling Hermione awake and making Ron jump.

"Well if it isn't Prince Potter and his mudblood with his pet peasant. Oh, what's this? Was the mudbitch sleeping? How quaint. And utterly disgusting," Malfoy spat venomously, flanked by his two brainless ogres. Ron reached for his wand but froze when he heard Harry's voice. Laced with venom and fury, Harry shot back, "Take it back, arsehole."

"Oh, what are you going to do about it? Hurt me? If you did that you'd end up like your manky parents. De-" Malfoy smirked right up to the moment Harry's expression changed. It went from hot fury to the coldest calm he'd ever seen. It was damn scary, and Malfoy began to back out of the compartment. He turned and ran, followed shortly by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Harry? Are you okay?" Hermione gasped, eyes wide and leaning slightly away from him. He took a moment to compose himself. After a few moments, he realized his magic had begun to swirl around him, traces of emerald hiding in shimmers in the air. "Your eyes… Harry, they're glowing," Hermione remarked, "Dear Merlin."

Harry shut his eyes tight and ignored the ringing words Malfoy had simpered. He reined in his magic, pulling it tight to his core. He felt exhausted, physically and mentally. On the bench across from him, Ron's eyes were gaping. His mouth had dropped at the very obvious display of raw power emanating from Harry. When Harry's eyes opened again they were no longer glowing, but they were damp and red.

Hermione threw her arms around Harry. She didn't say anything but just held him, not knowing what to say. Harry couldn't be more comforted at the moment, his best friend had done the best thing she possibly could. The pain hadn't disappeared but it had lessened.

o0O0o

When they had arrived at Hogwarts they had hustled through the intense storm to the Great Hall for dinner. Ron sat across from Harry, Hermione sitting so closely she might as well be in Harry's lap. The twins sat on the other side of Harry and her, they had seen it the moment they first lay eyes on him in the subtle ways his shoulders slumped and his eyes downcast. It unsettled them that Harry was so dim today, he was like a brother.

Dumbledore's speech was uninteresting save for his mention of the "Triwizard Tournament" to which Harry had slumped even further, Hermione had put her hand on his and offered what little comfort she could. Harry ignored the Sorting and the Hat's song. Harry barely ate a thing before leaving early with Hermione following in tow.

Ron kept shovelling food into his mouth, a grotesque sight putting many students off their dinner and making more than one go green in the face. Ron simply couldn't fathom why his friends had left early - though it wasn't as though Ron could fathom much in the first place.

Harry trudged up the stairs towards the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. His solemn progression was interrupted by Hermione, who had an arm around his shoulder. His thoughts dull and slow, he leaned into her. He felt cold and tired and he barely noticed the couch they had reached. Hermione sat and pat the spot next to her, silently commanding Harry to sit and talk.

"Harry, you've been quiet ever since Malfoy came into our cabin on the Express. I'm worried about you." Her voice quavered a little with worry.

"My magic, Hermione. It's never done what it did. I lost control of it and I could have hurt you." Harry murmured. "If you or Ron had been hurt, I don't know what I'd do with myself. Malfoy was being despicable. I very narrowly avoided taking his life." a tear trailed down his cheek. He was supposed to protect them but instead he had probably avoided disaster by a tiny fraction.

Hermione twirled him around and lay his head on her lap. "Oh Harry, you silly boy. I doubt I was in any danger. I wouldn't have realized anything had happened if your eyes hadn't started glowing. Ron, on the other hand," she exclaimed, "He seemed scared of you. Do you know what's up with him?"

"Hermione, I think Ron might like you." Harry blurted, flushing when he realized what he'd said. Ron would probably be mad at him if he ever found out Harry had told her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I've noticed. I've been dropping hints trying to get him to realize I don't like him, but I think when I followed him away from you and Draco during the World Cup I broke any grasp he may have had on that concept," Hermione spoke smoothly, "and besides that, I like someone else." she finished, blushing wildly.

A thought rumbled through Harry's adolescent mind, 'Does she have a crush on me? No, she can't. I would've noticed. I wonder who it is?' A flash of white-hot jealousy rushed into him as he realized that Hermione, his best friend, would be with someone else. Then they'd be her best friend and that was unacceptable.

Hermione's blush receded and Harry could see her thinking furiously. She kept her face neatly controlled but Harry could see the disappointment in her eyes. Her eyes turned down, her sadness apparent. In a pitiful attempt to keep Hermione from thinking about whatever had hurt her Harry attempted to change the subject.

"Hermione, did you know that I made a decision on the night of the World Cup?" he asked quietly, reaching to nudge her chin up and staring her in the eyes.

"No, Harry. What did you decide?" she queried, voice wavering slightly as disappointment welled in her throat.

"I decided that I was going to do everything I could to protect my friends. I saw people die that night, I saw people burning and I saw people being tortured. I had a taste of war and I don't want you to have any more experience than is necessary with war."

"I want to become stronger and faster and better. Dumbledore and many others have told me I'm a strong wizard, a strong person, but I'm not strong enough to keep everyone safe," He declared with conviction.

"I fully intend on becoming as strong as possible. We both know Voldemort isn't dead and when the time comes to face him I need to beat him - not for my sake, for all of my friends."

Hermione swallowed the feelings threatening to spill from her throat and her eyes. "I have no doubts that you're fully capable of that Harry," she assented, "but good luck keeping war from me, I plan on being by your side the entire time," Hermione promised.

Students began arriving soon after their little chat, and following that the two made their ways to their dorms to get a headstart on sleeping.

o0O0o

Harry woke as his alarm spell shook him from his sleep. He'd been having a wonderful dream, he vaguely remembered a date and beautiful brown hair that smelled of peppermints. He remembered the feeling of warmth in his core when he kissed her, though who she was he didn't remember. The sun had yet to grace the horizon, the horizon being a deep purple often related to the precursor of dawn or nightfall. It didn't occur to Harry that the sky was still cloudy.

After he'd dressed Harry quietly made his way down the steps to the empty common room, exiting through the portrait and making his way to his head of house's office. The halls were empty save for the few early-risers, mostly Ravenclaws headed to the library before breakfast. Harry ignored them for the most part, nodding to Luna as he passed her, and reached the professor's office as the sky was beginning to brighten.

"Good morning Mister Potter. It's a surprise to see you here this early," McGonagall began, "to what do I this visit?"

"Well professor, I've decided I wish to change my schedule," Harry said firmly.

Professor McGonagall's eyes widened slightly, and she seemed to think for a brief moment before responding sharply, "I believe that will be possible, though I wish you had told me via owl over the summer. May I ask what you'd like to change?"

"Professor, I would like to switch from my current Divination and Care of Magical Creatures classes. I made a decision during the disaster a week ago that I would try my best this year - and in the next years - and I simply cannot do that when I'm taking classes I have no aptitude in. The classes I would like to switch into would be Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. I've read the 3rd year books and I'm fully prepared for the classes." he recited swiftly, as the day would soon start and he would have to head to History of Magic.

McGonagall quirked an eyebrow before waving her wand over Harry's schedule. She handed it to Harry and gestured the boy to the door. Upon reaching the doorframe, he froze, hearing the sound of McGonagall's voice. "Your parents would be proud of you, Harry," she spoke softly. Harry turned and smiled at her before leaving.

The strict professor watched his back recede as he headed to breakfast. A small smile graced her lips as she thought of this new, changed Harry. She'd been disappointed when Harry had followed in the footsteps of his lazy best mate and was extremely pleased that it appeared Harry would now follow in the steps of his parents.

Shortly afterwards Harry reached the Great Hall, which had only just begun to fill. Harry took a seat, joined soon after by Hermione and Ron. Ron had a sour look on his face, as though he'd sniffed a terribly old, worn sock.

"Harry, have you heard the rumors flying around the Common Room? Lavender told me she saw you and Hermione, as she put it, 'cuddling' on the couch. She's telling everyone you two are 'finally' a couple. You guys aren't… are you?" he asked. Hermione was blushing but had a slightly dreamy look on her face which quickly disappeared into a mask of annoyance.

"Well, no, we aren't. I doubt Harry even likes me like that anyway. But what business is it of theirs if we were?" responded Hermione.

Ron's face softened and he looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, Hermione. They're just gossips."

Harry and Hermione shared a look, which passed under Ron's notice due to his preoccupation with eating. They needed to talk to Ron about being subtle.

Half an hour later, they were headed to History of Magic. Harry yawned as they walked into the room. "Hermione, they should really change the name of this class to 'How to Sleep in Daylight'" said Ron, as he also yawned.

Harry forced himself to stay awake, pulling his Charms book from his bag. He leaned back, propping his legs on the table, and began to read. Seeing his motion, Hermione gave him a disapproving glance but seeing that he wasn't simply getting comfortable she smirked. "Who are you and what have you done to Harry?" she whispered amusedly, her smile growing wider.

"That will be 50 points from Gryffindor, Ms. Granger," Harry said, trying and failing to hide the laughter bubbling in his chest, "for talking to the Great Severus Snape as though he were Harry Potter."

Hermione giggled and went back to taking notes. Harry kept reading but spared a glance at her every few minutes. He couldn't help but notice the way the light bounced off her hair, giving it a golden appearance. They fell in spirals down her cheeks, and despite its bush-iness it was really quite pretty. His eyes trailed over her face, taking in how she really looked. He'd never taken any time to study how Hermione looked, it had never seemed important to him. Now that he'd taken the time he could see that she was beginning to grow into a beautiful young woman.

It took conscious effort to drag his eyes away from her in order to continue his study of Charms. "These straightforward but surprisingly dangerous charms cause certain things to swell or shrink." he read, reread, and read for the third time. Something seemed important about the spell Reducio, as though it could help someone. Glancing over at Hermione he realised something. "'Mione!" he frantically whispered, startling her.

"What, Harry?" she responded with a small smile at his usage of her nickname.

"I remember how you've always been annoyed with your front teeth and I think I can fix them."

Hermione's eyes went thoughtful, and after a moment of consideration, she spoke again. "Harry, are you sure? I'd love to try but what if something goes wrong?"

"I'm sure this will work." Harry persisted.

"Does the book mention the spell being used for shrinking teeth?"

Harry read through the section once more, reading very carefully. "It doesn't mention it explicitly but it says that it's the counter to a jinx that causes teeth to grow and counters most growth spells." said Harry as he finished the paragraph.

"Well, if the book says it can be used for shrinking teeth I suppose we could try it. Do you know the counterspell in case it does go wrong?" Hermione said.

"It says it right here. _Engorgio_ is the counterspell." Harry replied.

Hermione relented and opened her mouth slightly, pulling back her lips a little. Harry giggled at her expression and leaned forward, his wand directly in front of her teeth. "Reducio" he muttered and cancelled the spell as soon as her teeth became even. Setting down his wand, he conjured a mirror and handed it to Hermione. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open.

"Harry!" she cried, "You just did wandless magic!"

Harry stared at the mirror he had conjured in wonder. Wandless magic was something he had never thought about. He knew magic was about intent and power, and though he knew he had the power the intent was something he wasn't sure about.

"Harry, try it again. Try magic without your wand." Hermione coaxed and Harry complied, holding his hands out in front of him and closing his eyes. This time he was aware of the magic that swirled through him, brushing the skin of his fingers and rumbling in waves throughout him. Pulling it to the surface of his hands he opened his eyes and imagined a small stone dragon, which promptly appeared in his hands. It hopped from his palm and stumbled around the desk, clearly missing its feet. Hermione stared at him in awe despite the imperfection of the conjuration.

They spent the rest of the class conjuring things, and when the bell tolled for the class to be over, Harry and Hermione headed to Charms followed shortly by a drowsy Ron. Charms flew by after an hour of learning the summoning charm, which both Harry and Hermione excelled in where Ron only managed to pull his own hairs out. Not too long after Charms, the trio sat in the Great Hall for lunch.

Ron was complaining loudly about Double Potions to Harry's bemusement. Ron opening his mouth during lunch was something Harry didn't need divination to know was a bad idea. Spraying pudding from his gob he muttered the injustice of Snape's class to a thoroughly unappreciative Dean and Seamus.

Harry and Hermione left for the dreaded double potions class in the dungeons, followed shortly by Ron, Dean, and Seamus who were arguing about the Chudley Cannons. Harry listened to them for a moment before silently resuming the trek to the classroom. A muggleborn student from the colonies had referred to it as the 'Batcave' in honor of some comic book series. Though not many students got the reference, the few who did had a good laugh about it.

As the Gryffindors neared the classroom they caught a glimpse of the elusive Greasius Battus species of aggravating Slytherins. Snape's billowing cloak entered the dungeon followed moments after by the small group, who quieted down immediately hoping to not incur the wrath of the Slytherin Head of House.

A few minutes passed before the class started and Professor Snape left his office. The class went completely silent and everyone froze in their seats. Snape's gaze swept over the class, sneering at the Gryffindors.

"Instructions are on the board," Snape droned, "Begin."

Harry looked closely at the board. They were brewing the Draught of Memory, a potion for two people to make. Harry glanced over at Hermione catching her eye, and she walked over to him to sit adjacent to him in front of his cauldron. The others were pairing up, Ron pairing with Neville was sure to cause some sort of explosion. The poor boy was a prodigal herbologist but potions were certainly not his strong point. He certainly had skill but his skill was in causing explosions.

The Draught of Memory called for powdered siren feathers, mashed ginger root, and finally elephant bile. Hermione went to get the ingredients as Harry lit the fire under a small silver cauldron he had bought before the year had begun. He prepared a silver cutting board and knife as Snape looked on with sour surprise. Harry had studied well over the week between the World Cup and the first day of school.

Hermione came back and they began to prepare the ingredients, Harry partitioning off half of the chopping board to cut the siren feathers into individual strands. Using his studied Arithmancy he had deduced that the most efficient way would not be to powder the feathers but rather to strip them and then place only the strands into the potion. Dropping them in slowly, they dissolved into a milky white. Hermione stared at it and looked at Harry.

"How'd you do that? That's the perfect color for this!"

"I read an arithmancy book. Arithmancy Applied: Potions is really good at explaining how to use arithmancy. Also, slice the ginger into half a millimeter thin pieces."

Hermione did as he advised her to while he stirred the pot, giving it a moment to rest every 3 stirs clockwise before 3 stirs counterclockwise. The potion turned a shimmering mauve, a vortex of steam rising above the potion. As the ginger was added it turned golden and after the requisite 7 stirs he added a single clockwise spin.

Snape saw the last movement and growled, "That will be 20 points from Gryffindor, Potter, for not following the directions so clearly written on the board. I advise you learn to read before returning to this class."

Harry fumed silently before slowly pouring the bile into the potion. Hermione swirled the potion as Harry calculated in his head the potion spell in his head. While Snape was turned, Harry put his palm to the cauldron and spoke, memorium retentio, the latin spell for memory. The potion turned a deep blue with specks of white swirling inside. It shimmered and swirled and matched the exact description the book gave the potion's final state.

He filled 6 vials with the potion, pocketing 4 and walking to the front of the class. Hermione and Harry were the first two done, and not a small amount of eyes were on him. Harry placed one of the potion vials into the vial rack before returning to his seat and engaging in a chat with Hermione about the applications of Arithmancy in other fields of magic.

Many minutes later the next students began to finish and it wasn't long before Snape informed them of the two feet of parchment they had for homework.

o0O0o

Harry was sitting next to Hermione in the Common Room, writing his two feet of homework for Potions class. He and Ron had gotten into a fierce argument about how he was too busy doing homework to play chess and Ron had stalked off to the dorms, muttering about how Harry never seemed to want to do anything fun anymore.

Harry finished up the homework and pulled out his books, intent on studying. Hermione happened to look over at that exact moment and astutely noticed two out-of-place books in the stack he had.

"Harry?" she spoke softly, "I know you'd read an arithmancy book, but surely you don't need the official textbooks for ancient runes and arithmancy too?"

Harry grinned at her. "Mione, remember how I said I made a decision to be better this year? I've changed my schedule. I don't have Care of Magical Creatures or Divination anymore," he winked at her, "so I'm sure you can guess what I picked up instead."

Hermione squealed and after setting her homework aside she ran to Harry, who stood to meet her. She launched herself at him, forcing him back into the chair with the force of her hug. "Oh, Harry! That's wonderful!" she all but shouted. Harry hugged her back and she sat there for a moment longer than was strictly necessary before smoothing her robes down and returning to her chair with a shadow of blush on her cheeks.

Harry studied for an hour before finally saying goodnight to Hermione and heading to bed.

o0O0o

The next morning, Harry was woken by his charms alerting him that someone was trying to get through his bed curtains. Harry swiftly donned some pyjamas and opened them, seeing a redhead on the other side. "Harry! What took you so long?" Ron said, "We need to have a talk."

Harry sat up, "What do you want, Ron?" he responded sleepily, "And for your information I was asleep." It seemed like it was still fairly early. The sun had barely risen over the horizon.

"Well, Harry, I've noticed that you and Hermione have been a lot closer this year. You said you weren't dating but you and her have been acting a little weird around each other." Ron said quietly.

"Hermione and I are best friends. Ron, can you keep a secret for me?" Harry asked

Ron looked a little hurt by his statement. "I can keep a secret for you, mate."

Harry sighed and began, "Well, I've noticed recently that she makes me happier than anyone else does. I like her more than as a friend now."

Ron's face flushed, "Harry, you know I like her, right? You wouldn't do that to your friend, would you?"

"Ron, I think she likes someone else. I don't think she sees either of us as more than a friend."

The two friends talked for a few minutes before heading to breakfast and not mentioning a word of their conversation to their bushiest friend.

o0O0o

After breakfast, Harry decided to take a walk on the grounds. Quidditch practice was tomorrow and he'd like to see the pitch. Walking to the pitch took several minutes and he decided to sit in the stands and take a gander at the castle. Deep in his stomach, Harry felt uneasy. Malfoy had been a lot more aggressive this year. He had hoped that Malfoy would back off after what had happened on the train but nothing had changed.

Pulling out the Marauder's Map Harry searched for Hermione. She was in a corridor, one with several alcoves. He knew the hall and just around the corner from her he saw four people unmoving. Harry's blood ran cold as he read the names. "Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Pansy Parkinson…" Harry read. He reached the final name and Draco Malfoy moved. He stepped from around the corner, Hermione moving backwards a step.

Harry ran down the steps. He knew Malfoy had something planned.

 **A/N: I wrote this after looking up September 1st, 1994 and discovering that it was a Thursday. After reading an early section of the Goblet of Fire I discovered that in Rowling's world it was a Sunday. This chapter takes place on the days of September 1st, 2nd, and 3rd which are a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday respectively.**


	2. The Alley and the Date

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

A/N: I finally got around to changing my placeholder of 'a billion muggle pounds' (in reference to galleons). Now it's about 30 pounds. Why anyone could buy a wand (a powerful artifact) for just 35 (the standard rate of conversion is 5 pounds to a galleon) pounds is ridiculous to me, especially considering how rare wand wood is supposed to be. Also, when I updated this 200 words mysteriously showed up. Not sure what they say or where they are but it's probably a bit of story I didn't originally include. The document upload was... odd.

Chapter Two: The Alley and the Question

o0O0o  
-Harry's Memory of the trip to Diagon Alley-

Harry flooed to the Leaky Cauldron two days before the beginning of term. With every step he took he could feel the emptiness in his pocket where his wand usually was, its absence keenly felt. The bag full of ashes was all he had left.

Leaving the pub he made his way to Gringotts, aware of the stares and fingers pointing at him. News travelled fast in the Wizarding World, and the Daily Prophet had put the story of his World Cup on the front cover of the next day's issue. When Harry saw the cover he had been pissed, and he was beginning to grow tired of the media's focus on him. He'd hatched a plan though and today was his first phase.

Harry stood in line and before he knew it a goblin teller stood before him on the opposite side of a marble counter.

"Good day, Mr. Potter. How may I help you today?" said the goblin from behind the bars. Harry noticed his nametag read 'Riplance'.

"Riplance, sir, I would like to enter my vault." he spoke from under the hood of his robes.

"Ah. Mister Potter. We've been waiting for you to come alone so we may introduce you to your full vault." the goblin spoke swiftly. Hopping from his seat, the diminutive being beckoned for him to follow.

"Er… Why would I have to come alone for that?" asked a thoroughly confused Harry.

"The lordship ceremony is often very private for families and as you have no living family we erred on the side of caution and decided that it would be best for all parties if you were to take your lordship unaccompanied."

"Gringotts also does not perform rituals until 14, which is when a wizard's magical core is most fluid and adaptable. This ensures the safety of the ritual."

Rails came into view soon afterwards, and Harry's stomach grew queasy. Harry stepped into a cart and gripped the metal sides, wishing desperately that Gringotts had any other transportation. The goblin grinned at him, an ugly, frightening expression. It didn't settle his nerves any.

Picking up speed the cart began to buck before finally plummeting down a very long rail in a cavernous fissure. As Harry peered over the side he saw nothing but mist and the odd railroad. The cart slowed after what must have been a quarter of an hour, coming to a full halt at the bottom of a chasm. Built into the wall was a gargantuan steel door with engravings Harry could never hope to understand flanked by two equally huge marble statues of griffins.

"Follow me, Mr. Potter." the goblin rasped, exiting the cart and swiftly moving to the vault.

Harry did as he was told, following despite his protesting stomach and legs. A sudden movement made him fall backwards, the griffins falling to the ground, claws booming against the granite floor. They turned to inspect Harry and a razor sharp claw extended to him, the goblin shouting with laughter as it did.

Harry James Potter was not amused, nor was he dignified as he scrambled away from the talon.

"Riplance!" he shrieked from the ground, the goblin doubling over with shrieks of mirth.

When the goblin had finally composed himself he turned to Harry and wiped a tear from his eye. "Mr. Potter, prick your finger on the claw and let the griffin lick the blood from your hand. It will deem you either the Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter or it will remove your hand and then kill you."

Not reassured in the slightest, Harry stared at the griffin; the outstretched talon unwavering. Shakily reaching forwards he pressed his finger against the tip, wincing as it punctured the flesh. It bled freely and the griffin's snake-like tongue lapped the crimson from his hand.

The wound closed and the griffins backed away, rearing up on either side of the door as they had done previously, freezing with a loud shriek. Harry looked away from the griffons, the shriek driving his eyes away from them. As he stared down at the ground a small velvet pillow with a ring upon it appeared in front of him.

Leaning forwards he picked up the ring, noting its crest and careful engravings around its platinum curve. The inside read 'Potter' and the outside engravings spoke, 'Scilicet per Fortitudo'. Two jewels sat set in silver, they formed a ruby and silver crest flanked by two exquisite griffons. Sliding onto his finger Harry felt a rush of magic and a comfortable weight settle on him. The ring stared at him as he stared back, it almost felt alive. The weight emanating from him felt like a responsibility it was subtly asking him to take, but it wasn't oppressive. Lost in his thoughts he hardly noticed when the gates ahead of him groaned open, shaking their collected mineral coating off.

"Congratulations… Lord Potter." the goblin said with joy.

Beyond the door was more gold than Harry had ever seen. The room it lay in was extremely orderly, heaps of galleons stacked in crates. A wall full of small, thin boxes sat to the left and a door lay across from him. The sheer size and density of the room shocked him, he'd never seen anything like it. A glimpse of the tellie in the Dursley's household floated to the forefront of his mind, a gargantuan warehouse for a supermarket.

"What is all of this?" the overwhelmed boy whispered to nobody in particular. Repeating himself loud enough for the goblin to hear, he was told that this was everything the Potters had in storage.

"How much gold do I have? What are all of those boxes on the wall? Do I have any ancient artifacts? What's beyond those doors?"

"It is well known that the Potters are a very wealthy family, and though I do not know the specific amount I'm aware that it is in the millions of galleons. The exact amount can be brought to you at your request. Those boxes are the wands of your ancestors. You have three powerful magical artifacts in this room and it is likely that you will inherit others from other families by your defeat of Voldemort. Beyond those doors are other rooms for specific objects and the one lying directly across the room is files and letters left by your family." Riplance cackled. Some small corner of Harry decided there must be something wrong with the goblin. Something very, very wrong.

Harry's mind filled with information, he simply couldn't believe how insanely rich he was. A galleon was worth the equivalent of about 30 muggle pounds. Partitioning that thought away he inspected the rest of the contents of the vault. Barely thinking he shuffled to the shelf, hand hovering over his ancestor's wands. Three boxes stood out to him, a long, thin grey velvet case, a similarly sized red velvet case, and a slightly thicker box made of what appeared to be bone.

Opening the first case he saw a beautiful red wand. A note on the inside of the box declared it to be a redwood wand with a dragon heartstring, twelve inches long and quite sturdy. Secondly he unlatched the red case, a thin wand of acacia and augurey feather, and finally he opened the bone case.

Inside he found an immensely bizarre creation. His ancestor Hadrian Fenwick Potter had been a wandmaker and this had been his wand. The bone of a dragon and the core of a troll whisker with a handwritten note from Hadrian claimed that the wand was brutal in battle. He led his hand over the wands once more and felt a connection with each. However, the feeling he got from them was that they were not _his yet_. Each wand felt apprehensive as though he had trials ahead of him that would determine his wand.

Sighing, Harry turned away from the impressive collection. Directly to the right of the wands lay a door he hadn't noticed in his initial inspection of the room. Drawn to it as though by magic, though that very well may have been the case, he entered the small room.

His first impression of it was dull. The room was dim and held only a table, with a shimmering orb of light barely illuminating the walls. They had an odd pattern of squares with spherical knobs protruding from the center of each square.

" _Lumos_ " Harry whispered, no wand in his grasp. Blinded by the sudden light he stumbled, blinking rapidly to banish the spots in his eyes. When he had regained his vision the room seemed much more interesting, each section of the wall's patterning was in reality its own drawer. Stepping to the nearest one of what must have been hundreds he gripped the handle, pulling it from the wall. Inside he saw several cloth bags full of hair.

Then next drawer contained stringy pieces of what appeared to be flesh. Quickly pushing it shut he moved to the center of the room, hoping for some hint as to what the room was. A small nameplate on the desk read "Hadrian Fenwick Potter" in engraved golden letters. With a gasp of realisation Harry pulled the bag of ashes from his pocket, placing them on the desk.

A burst of inspiration uncommonly seen in him flew through the room, magic permeating his surroundings. Uncaring of the charge in the air he thought for a brief moment and opened the drawer under the desk, looking for evidence to support his thoughts. Inside the desk lay a pair of cylinders, each with a hole running through the center. The cylinders were covered in runes Harry couldn't decipher.

Lifting the stones from the desk he felt a connection to something. It felt vacant and emanated from the hollow core of the stone pieces. Harry nodded absentmindedly to nobody in particular, now he was certain that the room was used for wandmaking. He lifted the bag of ashes and poured its contents out, charred wood and ash falling from the bag. Phoenix feather jutted from the small pile and he was instantly transfixed, the feather seemed to glow.

It burst into flame right as his magic subconsciously yanked on the surrounding cabinets and pulled a long stick of silver ashwood from one and a sharp brown feather from another. The fire hung in the air, ashes of his wand spiraling around it. The ashwood floated right above the flames and the feather underneath them. Harry felt a sharp tug on his magic as the runes coating the cylinders began to glow, floating from his hands and hovering in midair next to the fire and materials.

Harry stood back, unsure of what was happening. His magic wouldn't rein back in. Ever since something had broken several days ago his magic hadn't been the same and it scared him. He watched as the feather entered one cylinder and the stick of wood into the other, the wood exiting the artifact and sparking before returning to the top of it and entering again. The fire dimmed and the ashes swirled into it before coalescing into a single pillar and shooting into the cylinder.

Wiping spots from his eyes Harry saw the wood fall to the desk. Unsure of what he had just seen he reached for what he supposed was a new wand, it certainly looked the part. He had barely moved and inch and the wand leapt to his hand like an eager puppy. Flames shot from its end, unlike the sparks that had flown from his first wand.

He stared in wonder at the new wand. It felt right but it didn't feel the same as his old wand. As much as he missed the holly wand he could feel the power in his new one and was certain it would be as good or better than the old wand. Wishing he had more time to test it out Harry stepped from the room to explore the rest of his vault.

It took the better part of an hour to study the various places within the vault. He found an ancient study with letters from his parents and ancestors where he had cried. There had been a copy of the will that he would read later. There were only two other interesting things he had found, one was a potions lab and the other was what appeared to be a magical computer. Recalling the goblin's words about the powerful artifacts within the vault made him wonder what they were. One, he was certain, must have been the wandmaking stones, and he was sure the contraption that had reminded him of a computer was another. Perhaps the third had been in the potions lab, something that made use of ingredients better,

Before long the goblin called to him, beckoning him to the cart. Word had been received that his minders were here to collect him. There were so many cool things in the vault that Harry didn't want to leave, certainly not by a rickety cart. He did as he was told and 15 minutes later he was on his way out of the bank accompanied by Dumbledore. Mentioning nothing about the ring or the vault he simply followed, happy to be going home with a wand.

o0O0o

Days later, Harry sat in the stands of the Quidditch pitch and had a feeling of foreboding overcome him. The Marauders Map revealed what appeared to be an ambush on Hermione.

The wand Harry had acquired in Gringotts flew into his hand as he ran to Hermione's name on the map. Just inches of parchment were so much further in reality and Harry hated it. Dodging other students, he shot up the stairs to the entrance hall and continued his flight to his best friend.

Clutching the wand and the map he rounded a corner, narrowly avoiding a collision with Filch who proceeded to yell at him. The map showed Hermione flanked by Malfoy's trolls Crabbe and Goyle, and they were clearly dragging her into an empty classroom. Pansy Parkinson stood off to one side and Malfoy was already in the room.

Harry knew he hadn't been able to run all the way from the Quidditch pitches and yet he found himself at the classroom door. Silence emanated from the other side. Harry checked the map again, Malfoy stood right behind Hermione and his friends were on either side of the door, clearly in wait.

The world grew cold and Harry kicked the door open, red spewing from his wand and stunning three of the Slytherins, the only one left standing was Malfoy. Harry's hand shook, wanting badly to kill the inbred twat. Only one thing kept Malfoy alive, his wand pressed against Hermione's neck.

"Potter," he spat, "What a pleasant surprise to see you here. Bloody predictable, too. Why don't you put that wand down."

Harry placed the wand on the desk nearby. Cold gripped the world, making his vision sharper and movements more precise. His hands rose in front of him.

"Good. Wouldn't want to attack me when I've got your bitch trapped. One spell against me and she'd be dead. I know what you did to my father. He was never found after the World Cup and you were making faces at us the entire match. Well," Malfoy laughed hysterically, "I'm going to do the same to your pet mudblood. I'm going to kill her and you're going to regret hurting my father."

Red shot from his hands, stunning a wide-eyed Draco Malfoy and Hermione. Loathing boiled inside him, wanting badly to mutilate Malfoy and his lackeys but limiting himself to a few jinxes. The next few days would be hard for the Slytherins, acne and tripping every step wouldn't be fun.

" _Enervate_ " he cast, reviving Hermione.

"Are you okay? What were they going to do?" he shakily asked, adrenaline leaving his body. All of his body had tremors running through it.

"I think I'm fine. Nobody used any spells against me. Malfoy's morons grabbed me and dragged me into this room but they simply stood guard and Malfoy…" her face paled, "Malfoy said he wanted revenge for his father. He was raving about something being your fault and his father being dead. Somehow he knew you'd show up and he wanted to make you watch me die." she finished with tears flowing down her face.

Malfoy's wand snapped followed by three more cracks, each accompanied by a spray of sparks. Frigid, roiling magic permeated the air, desks shaking and moving. The Slytherins began to groan but didn't awaken.

Harry's eyes were glowing, they looked like Killing Curses embedded in marble. Green magic coated Harry's hands before dissipating, it looked downright _terrifying_ and Hermione was glad it wasn't aimed at her. His wand jumped to his hand.

"If I had less control all four of them would be dead." Harry's voice was clear and icy.

Leading Hermione from the room, Harry's magic died down. They walked to the Headmaster's office immediately. Students took one look at the irate boy-who-lived and wisely decided to make way for them, parting to either side.

Thoughts bounced around inside Harry's mind. If Malfoy had simply killed her instead of waiting for Harry (which was odd, how had he known Harry was coming?), Hermione wouldn't be there with him. His heart ached at the thought of anyone hurting her.

The Gargoyle jumped aside as Harry approached. Dumbledore stepped from the room, surprised to see Harry, and immediately pivoted.

"What an interesting happenstance, Lord Potter. I had just decided to ask Minerva to fetch you. Follow me." Albus said flatly.

The 'Lord' had not gone unnoticed. The now three people entered the office, various instrument tooting and Dumbledore conjured two seats for the students.

"Harry, it has come to my attention that you claimed your lordship a week ago."

"Yes sir, I did. When I went to Gringotts a goblin escorted me to my family vault and the griffons deemed me worthy. A ring appeared at my feet and I put it on oblivious to what it did." Harry responded uncaring.

"Young man, do you know the responsibility that comes with a lordship? You are required to appear for Wizengamot meetings and other responsibilities as the Potter head of house." Dumbledore said in his most disappointed grandfather voice.

"I did not know at the time, nor would I know considering I was raised by magic hating muggles. Professor, perhaps we should talk about this later. Malfoy attacked Hermione and that is why we were on our way here." Said Harry icily.

"Very well. When did this happen, and what did Mr. Malfoy have planned?"

"Malfoy told me he was going to get revenge on Harry for something, and that he wanted him to watch me die. For some reason he believed that Harry had caused his father's death." Hermione's voice was hard.

"I stunned all of them and snapped their wands." Harry spoke, the memory causing his magic to flare.

Dumbledore's eyes widened in shock. "I did not suspect he would have done such a thing. Though I am surprised you would snap their wands I think it is a worthy punishment, but Malfoy will likely kick up a fuss about it. I have been informed by his mother, the new head of the Malfoy house, that his father was killed during the pandemonium at the World Cup."

"If she tries anything I will take my seat on the Wizengamot and oppose it."

The Headmaster's bushy eyebrows rose but he didn't object. "I suppose punishment is in order here. Fifty points from Slytherin for each attacker involved. Draco will have detention every weekend with rotating heads of houses, and the other three will have it for the rest of the semester."

"There was one other thing I noticed about him. He didn't seem completely coherent and he had a quality to him that I've never seen in anyone save for Luna Lovegood and Professor Trelawney. Somehow he knew I would show up. Does he have any Seer blood in him?"

Dumbledore pondered for a moment before replying. "I believe he does. His father's side comes from France and there was a seer named Malfoy known in France long ago. It is possible though highly unlikely that the stress of his father's death caused his seer blood to look for any other threats to his family's future. "

Harry thanked him and took Hermione by the hand, leading her out of the office. The Headmaster called after Harry to inform him that within the next few weeks he would need to discuss lordship with him.

o0O0o

As Harry lay in bed, he thought of the week's growing insanity. Ron had been acting odd around Hermione, it worried him. The way Ron moved seemed imposing, like he was trying to show off and the way he'd been talking… Something was strange. Lots of emphasis had been on Hermione's name recently, as though Ron had been trying to subtly (key word being _trying_ ) tell him and Mione something.

It also seemed like Ron was getting more aggressive about Hermione refusing any and all advances he was making. Harry loved Ron like a brother but this was seriously bizarre and he was worried that he'd hurt her. The decision he'd a matter of days ago weighed on him.

' _Do I ask out Hermione like I want to, or do I take a chance and let Ron go after her?'_ Harry thought.

' _There's no choice about it. Mione's birthday is in two weeks, if Ron hasn't asked her out by then I'll do it on that day. Maybe the day before."_

o0O0o

Herbology flew by in a blur, the following break disappearing as well and lunch vanishing soon after. The world seemed to run as fast as possible up until Arithmancy began and the world slowed. Walking into the small classroom Harry and Hermione were greeted by Professor Septima Vector, a warm hello and a note passed to Harry.

Reading the note he was told to stay after the class, as Professor Vector required proof of his mastery of third-year arithmancy.

"Good afternoon, class, and welcome to Arithmancy. I see only three new faces, how auspicious." she spoke primly, "In order to assure me that you've retained your knowledge of last year, please solve the problem I have written on the board. Finished charms resulting from the solution will be tested in the practical session before we move into the second portion of today's work. You may work with a partner of your own choosing today."

Harry didn't move an inch from his spot, as his partner sat directly next to him; the partner being Hermione. Turning to the board he began to discuss in a quiet voice the solution to the complicated equation. Hermione began to break the problem into smaller pieces as Harry searched for an answer.

They were the third group to finish, testing their solution and reasoning what the resulting spell was meant to do. Waving through the motions, they came to the conclusion that the spell was dependant upon the magic of the wood of the wand and the core in the wand to produce a small creature.

"I wonder if I could create an equation that would tell me what the results of the spell would be depending on the wood and the core." Hermione pondered.

Professor Vector stood at the front of the class, waiting a moment for the class to quiet, and then began to speak. "Now that we've all finished you may attempt the spell." she twittered before returning to her seat.

Hermione went first, producing a tiny winged serpent. It curled around Harry's finger cutely before flying away. Harry pouted, he had liked that… thing. He was slightly nervous about trying the spell but did it anyway. From his wand shot a small griffin to the delight of many students near him. It stared into his eyes before leaping into the air and soaring away, circling the classroom with several creatures of varying statures.

The next fifteen minutes were filled with laughter as the class watched their creatures romp around the room.

The second portion of the class dealt with spellmaking itself, with Vector explaining how their first foray into the art of spellmaking would be difficult. She made them sign a pledge proclaiming that they would not attempt dangerous spell creation without supervision and assigned them fifteen inches on the arithmancy behind spellcraft.

Hermione waited outside the class as Harry stayed behind. A short test and an approving smile later and Harry was on his way to dinner with Hermione.

Wednesday that week was Harry's first class in Ancient Runes as taught by Bethesda Babbling. Though she didn't live up to her last name, instead preferring a concise, quick manner of speaking, she certainly knew her subject. In their class they reviewed the third year runes, inscribing a wooden plank with shielding runes and attempting to break them. Hermione's was the best in the class though Harry's was in the top 5 as well.

The next two weeks flew by in a flash and on Sunday the 18th Harry shook himself from sleep early. He donned a pair of fancy robes he had ordered by owl. For Hermione's birthday he had something special planned. The two weeks of classes with her had brought them closer. Fred and George had told him the secret to the Hogwarts kitchens and he was headed there this morning before breakfast.

After tickling and turning a pear in a picture he entered the chaotic room filled with brass and steel. Elves were all over the place and it took a moment for Harry to shake himself from the confusion and discord surrounding him. "Dobby!" he announced, a wide-eyed Dobby appearing in front of him less than a second later.

"The Great Harry Potter be needing Dobby, sir?" the diminutive being enthusiastically asked.

"Yes, Dobby. Tomorrow is my best friend's birthday and since tomorrow we have classes I want today to be amazing for her. Could you place some chocolate and flowers on her bedside table before she wakes up? I also need somewhere for a romantic dinner." he questioned nervously. Today Harry planned on asking Hermione to be his girlfriend.

"Yes sir, Harry Potter sir. Dobby knows a place." the short elf responded, elf-apparating to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy. "This is the Come-and-Gos room, Harry Potter. You think of what you is needing and walk 3 times in front of the mad wizards and it gives you what you needs."

Harry paced back and forth, wishing for a romantic dinner place. A door appeared and the inside was perfect, it appeared to lead onto a balcony far above the ground. A table was set for two with menus.

"Thanks, Dobby. I owe you one." he said before leaving to return to the common room.

Very few people were in the common room. He was surprised to see two bleary-eyed redheads drinking coffee across from one another. He pulled up a chair and sat next to the two, pouring himself a cup and glancing at the papers in front of them.

Harry didn't see much on the papers except several numbers before they were flipped over with apologetic looks from the twins.

"Sorry, mate-"

"but those papers are really highly-"

"confidential plans-"

"we've cooked up-"

"and mum can't find out about it."

Now he was intrigued. "I swear I won't tell your mom. If it's something I can help with I'll try my best." he promised.

"Well, Harrikins, you're lucky you've caught us before the coffee kicked in." Fred began, "Because if you hadn't, we wouldn't tell you. But we're feeling generous so we might as well" George finished.

"We're making a joke shop and these are our plans. Startup costs, real estate, and possible products." the twins said at the same time before showing Harry the sheets they'd filled.

Despite his limited knowledge of business and managing Harry could tell the twins were gifted. This went beyond the things they'd talked about, it was a full 5-year business plan. "Wow, this is impressive." Harry exclaimed.

"Thank you-"

"Harry."

"Can you guys keep a secret?" he asked warily.

"Sure, whatever-"

"you need."

"When I went to Gringotts before school started I claimed my lordship of the House of Potter. I've got more than enough gold to give you a large startup fund."

Sharing a significant glance, they turned to Harry.

"Blimey, mate."

"We'd never ask for a full startup fund."

"But since you offered, we might take you up."

"With some conditions, of course."

"You'd have a large share in the company."

"You'd be able to help run the business."

"Product design and testing would be open to you."

"And much, much more."

Harry shook his head, the twins were definitely something. "Alright, guys."

Ron came downstairs soon afterwards, all traces of the plans hidden.

"Hey, mate," he started, "How'd you end up talking to my brothers?"

"I went for an early stroll and they were out here, so I decided to have a chat." he responded.

The four chatted amicably if a little less warmly than usual, ever since Harry had switched out of his electives Ron had been acting a little colder towards him. Harry understood, even if he wished Ron wouldn't mind so much.

Hermione came down shortly after the Weasleys had left for breakfast, a bundle of roses and chocolate clutched in her hands. She made a beeline for the couch Harry had moved to and sat next to him, looking extremely confused.

"Harry, I woke up this morning with these on my bedside this morning. No guys can get into the dorm and I'm not sure why they were put there. Nobody's ever gotten me flowers before." she said in a puzzled tone.

"Maybe they asked asked girl to bring it up there for them?" he responded innocently.

"Perhaps." She pursed her lips.

They walked to breakfast together, chatting about possible suspects for the roses and chocolate. As they ate breakfast Ron gave Harry looks, as though he wanted to tell him something but couldn't. As soon as they'd finished Ron dragged Harry to a bathroom.

"Harry," he whispered furiously, "I heard you and Hermione talking about roses and chocolate. First you leave the classes and now you're trying to get Hermione to like you? Bloody hell, mate! What are you playing at?!"

Harry did his best impression of being confused. "Ron," he spoke slowly, "I left the classes because they aren't helping me. And as for the flowers and chocolate, I didn't put them there." it was only technically true, but Ron didn't know that.

Ron seemed placated but still cold. They returned to the hallway where Hermione was waiting for them. For the rest of the day they were together, and Ron didn't let them out of his sight. Hermione was more than a little disturbed by Ron's actions.

When evening finally came, Ron left the other two in the dust as he ran for dinner. Harry and Hermione had a good laugh at their friend's expense. As they wandered towards the Great Hall, Harry began to take a different route.

"Harry? Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"You'll see. Trust me." he responded simply, giving no hints.

They walked side by side to the 7th floor and when they reached the portrait Harry began the motions. Hermione looked bemused, she had no idea what he was doing. To her sudden amazement a door appeared from the rocks.

"There we go. Come on." Harry requested, taking her hand and leading her through the door.

Hermione gasped, she'd never seen anything like it. When her eyes fell upon the candlelit table everything fell into place.

"Harry, is this what I think it is?" she questioned anxiously.

"If you think this is a nice dinner between two friends and nothing more, I sincerely hope you're wrong." Harry grinned.

Hermione frowned before realising what he'd meant. "You were the one who gave me the flowers and chocolate!"

Harry's smile broadened. He led her to the table and pulled her seat out for her, only releasing her hand as she sat. Sitting across from her he picked his menu and selected his meal, saying it out loud with a knowing glance at Hermione.

Her cheeks were rosy and she wore a grin almost the size of Harry's. They ate and talked and when they finished the table vanished. Standing, the chair beneath Harry vanished while the chair Hermione sat on turned to a loveseat.

Hermione rose and stepped towards Harry, clutching his midsection in a tight embrace.

"Hermione, you've been my best friend for four years. You're beautiful and smart. You're naturally nice and likable. Would you do me the honor of being me girlfriend?" he whispered softly into her ear.

Hermione's cheeks flushed and her eyes filled with tears. Harry's smile turned to a frown but melted when Hermione's lips touched his. The kiss lasted several seconds, and when she pulled away he wished for more. His arms left her neck and Hermione felt a weight there.

Looking down, she saw a beautiful heart-shaped necklace of silver and rosy gold adorning her neck. It was a stunning, curved heart but one side was jagged like Harry's scar. It was perfect.

"Was that a yes?" he mumbled hopefully.

She grinned tearfully and said, "Of course. What else could I say?"

His smile trailed off. "Well, when I saw you were crying I worried-" he was cut off by another kiss.

"Harry, those were from happiness. When I told you I liked someone weeks ago after you told me Ron liked me, I had been referring to you. I was sad when you hadn't realized it."

"I had thought maybe you did like me," Harry offered, "but I thought I would have recognized it."

They sat on the couch and gazed at the stars above, covered in blankets and leaning on each other. When curfew neared they walked back to the common room hand-in-hand.

A/N: I've done it! Over 5,000 words. It only took me an extra day. This hasn't been edited or proofread so sorry for any mistakes, I was desperate to get a chapter out today. Now… Time for homework. It's nearly midnight so I'm screwed for tomorrow.


	3. Troubles and Arrivals

**Disclaimer: The first chapter should be sufficient.**

 **A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! They motivate me through preparations for finals and the day in general. They've been so kind. One Guest in particular has been especially helpful. I don't know who they are but I would like to extend them a personal thanks. I am still in search of a beta.**

 **Chapter 4: Troubles and Arrivals**

o0O0o

Harry and Hermione wandered the halls leaning on each other. Most people were still in the Great Hall so they were free to act as they wished. Harry had never felt happier, life was going exceedingly well for him. Classes seemed easier and Arithmancy and Ancient Runes were far more interesting than Care of Magical Creatures (Sorry, Hagrid) and Divination.

As the earliest people to leave dinner entered the hall, the couple decided to finally get to the tower. Very few people had arrived in the tower and they quickly made their way to the couch they had claimed. Harry was extremely grateful to his past self, he had finished all of his homework the previous night and was free tonight provided nobody required his attentions.

Harry sat on the far end of the couch while Hermione lounged across it, head in his lap. The blanket Hermione had pilfered from the closet was soft and heavy, and the fire made him drowsy. As perfect as the moment felt he knew he couldn't sleep until he'd talked with Ron. He was sure Ron could understand why he'd asked Hermione out, but a nagging part of his brain was shouting. Ron had a jealous streak a mile wide and Harry was worried that he'd be mad.

Many minutes passed before Ron finally entered the common room. Had Hermione not been sleeping Harry would have gone to the dorms and fallen asleep himself. Ron seemed annoyed. Perhaps Malfoy had been sniping at him, Harry wouldn't be surprised. Now that Malfoy was aware of Harry's capabilities he wouldn't annoy Harry anymore, and Hermione was clearly off-limits. Ron was Malfoy's only way of getting at Harry and surely the pureblooded Slytherin would take the opportunity.

The couch was positioned in a way that hid anyone lying down from the entrance. That meant Ron could see Harry's unruly hair but not Hermione. Harry looked over the edge of the seat and held a finger to his lip, silencing the redhead shortly before he had been going to speak.

"Harry," he whispered, "what's the need for quietness? Why weren't you at lunch and have you seen Hermione?"

"Hermione fell asleep on the couch, I was with Hermione, and she's right here." he answered calmly.

Ron walked around the edge of the couch, sitting in one of the nearby chairs. He saw Hermione and gave Harry a dangerous look.

"Malfoy was being a right prick earlier." he said while attempting to keep from looking at Hermione.

"He's always an arse, isn't he? He's left me alone for the past week or so and Hermione hasn't mentioned having any problems. D'ya think maybe your dad did something that Malfoy's dad didn't like?" Harry murmured, keeping his voice flat in case he set Ron's temper off.

Ron's face turned thoughtful, an uncommon expression on the fiery Gryffindor's countenance. "Maybe. I'll send dad an owl tomorrow, mum'll like that."

Hermione yawned and sat up tiredly. She rubbed her eyes and leaned against Harry, sitting straight up when she noticed Ron staring.

"Hey, Ron. Did I interrupt anything?" she asked soporifically.

Ron and Harry shook their heads simultaneously, a side effect of being so close for years.

"'Kay. I think I'm going to turn in for the night." she said, turning to give Harry a peck on the cheek before walking unsteadily to the stairs.

His hair wasn't the only thing red when Ron saw Hermione kiss Harry, his entire face had flushed crimson. Ron's jaw audibly clicked shut, staring at Harry with a silent demand for answers to questions he didn't need to ask.

"Tomorrow's her birthday and I asked her out. Sorry, mate, I know how you feel about her but I like her too and you've had plenty of time to ask her out." it was a weak argument but an argument nonetheless.

Ron spluttered but couldn't respond. His face was turning an unhealthy shade of purple reminiscent of Harry's uncle Vernon when he tried to do math.

"Ron?" he asked anxiously, "You're not mad at me, are you?"

A sarcastic laugh was followed immediately by, "No, why would I be? You just asked out the girl your best mate has liked for years. You, Harry _bloody_ Potter who has to simply ask to get whatever you want."

Harry felt his stomach drop. This was the worst outcome he'd imagined.

"Everything I want, you get! You're a powerful wizard, you've got the best broom on the market, you're bloody rich, you've got everything!"

"You're a bloody lord! Every few weeks you make national news! A celebrity! You don't understand it, Harry. You just don't get it, do you?" Ron spat with angry disappointment.

"I'm the youngest of 6 brothers and my little sister gets all the attention! Everything I have has been owned before! Nothing is mine. Hermione was the only other thing I wanted and now you've even got that," he yelled, "Maybe Malfoy is right to hate you. Even he has less than you."

Through all the sadness Harry felt a flicker of anger. "But I don't have everything!" he insisted.

"Not everything, obviously, but damn near close to it! You don't understand what it's like to have a family who barely notices you!" the angry redhead panted right as two of his older siblings walked into the room.

Fred and George immediately flushed and stared at their youngest brother. Harry's blood ran cold with fury. Ron stood there oblivious to it all.

"Would you look at that," Fred called.

"Ickle Ronniekins doesn't even get it." his twin said.

"Maybe," Harry spoke coldly, his voice piercing over the sound of everything in the room. "That's because my family is _dead._ "

All the blood rushed from Ron's face. His expression turned to horror when he realised that's what he'd said.

"Mate, that's not what I meant!" he whimpered pathetically, but the damage was done.

Harry turned from Ron, storming out of the common room. His robes billowed behind him as he left through the portrait.

Fred and George shared a look before making for the source of the commotion; Ron himself. They all knew Ron would be getting pranked mercilessly for this newest act of drama.

Harry marched through the halls, students jumping out of his way when they saw him. With his robes swelling in his wake and the cold magic that sparked from him, he was an intimidating sight. He ended up in the seventh-floor corridor unknowingly, unsure of how he got there. Without ascending a staircase he'd appeared in front of the Come-and-Go room.

He wondered what the parameters of the room were. Earlier, when he had been on the date with Hermione, there had been food. Perhaps the elves had brought it there or perhaps the room could break some of the commonly accepted the rules of magic. Tomorrow, he decided, he would bring Hermione up here to test those rules.

Soft footsteps began to make their way down the hall. Harry turned and saw a shivering young girl in a nightgown wandering the cold castle, wearing no shoes. The girl seemed like she must be a third year, but he'd never noticed her before. Her eyes were vacant and dreamy, sliding into focus on him when she approached him.

"Um… Hi?" he softly spoke,

"Hello." the girl responded flatly.

"Do you need some help?" Harry asked, wary of the girl. It wasn't that long ago that Ron's sister had been possessed by a diary.

"Yes, I could use some help. You might need some too, you've got a terrible infestation of wrackspurts." the girl replied quietly.

"Why are you out here so late? It's far too cold to be without shoes. What are wrackspurts?" Harry had a bad feeling about something, she was small and he was worried that she might be bullied.

"The nargles locked me out of the tower and took my shoes. They're like the wrackspurts, but meaner. Wrackspurts make it hard to think but nargles will take your stuff."

"So you're a Ravenclaw?" he asked.

"Yes, but the others tell me I'm not a real Ravenclaw."

"What's your name?" he asked and he began to will the Come and Go room to be a warm room with chairs.

"It's Luna, Luna Lovegood, but the others just call me Loonie."

Harry grimaced, she was definitely bullied. Bad memories began to rise to the surface of his mind but he pushed them back down. The door to the room appeared and he led Luna in, the room providing a cozy small common room with a fire burning merrily.

Luna sat on one of the couches, pulling her legs into her chest. Harry took a risk and conjured a pair of slippers and a robe, hoping Luna wouldn't notice him doing it wandlessly. He handed them to her and she stood, reaching to the bottom of her nightgown. Harry turned away immediately, blushing. She apparently had been going to change into the robes right in front of him. Not a lot about Luna made any sense and this just added to the mystery.

"You can do wandless magic?" Luna asked as she sat back down on the couch.

Harry sighed, she had noticed. "Yeah, but I'm trying to keep it a secret. Can you please not tell anyone?"

Luna yawned sleepily. "Yes, I can do that."

"You can stay here for the night. Is there anything you'd like? This room can change into anything." he said, sitting next to the odd girl.

"I suppose a bed would be nice, but the couch is fine. It's comfier than the one I normally sleep on." she sighed.

Harry was extremely alarmed by her statements. Ravenclaw didn't seem like a nice group of people. They took her shoes, locked her out of the tower on a cold night, and probably made her stay out of the dorms. When he added the bit about her imaginary creatures and her uncaring nature about changing in front of someone, it made him think that she was abused.

Maybe his friends weren't the only ones in need of protection.

o0O0o

Hermione's birthday was the next day. Waking early had become a habit, and Harry hopped out of bed before the sun had risen. He showered and went through the normal motions of waking. Crossing the common room he encountered nobody, nor did he in the halls. It wasn't long later that he arrived at the kitchens and asked Dobby to make a picnic for two to be delivered during lunch.

Harry returned to the common room, sitting engulfed in blankets reading books and practicing spells occasionally. He was alone for half an hour before the twins came downstairs and sat in a corner of the room. One of the twins muttered something and a coffee pot appeared.

Removing the blanket, he moved to where the twins were. "How'd you get it to appear like that?" Harry said curiously.

The twins yawned. "Disillusionment spell," one said, "and the reversal of it." the other finished.

"Clever. You should turn that into a product."

The twins looked thoughtful and began to drink their coffee as Harry returned to his seat. Studying was more fun than he'd thought it would be, he had only to recall the wonder of the first magic he'd seen to be enthusiastic about learning more. An hour later Hermione came downstairs.

"Harry..?" she spoke nervously, sitting next to him.

He kissed her cheek and hugged her. She glowed with happiness.

"Good, it wasn't just a dream," she said before sitting in his lap and kissing him. "What're you up to this morning?"

"Studying. I see why you enjoy reading so much, spells are fun!"

She kissed him again, all of her nervousness fading.

"What was that one for? I need to know so I can do it again!" Harry exclaimed amusedly.

Hermione giggled. "That," said Hermione, "was for studying like a good student." she finished before kissing him again. "And that one was because it's fun."

The next half hour was productive, the incentives definitely helped. The couple walked to breakfast together, chatting with the terrible twins. Fred and George were planning a whole host of pranks on Ron in vengeance for his pigheadedness. Now that Harry had talked to them he knew they were extremely intelligent people, following a trend of intelligence in their family that seemed to have missed Ron.

Ron showed up to breakfast late, piling as much food as possible onto his plate and devouring it. He refused to look in either of his friend's directions.

Herbology came around and Harry partnered with Hermione. Ron shot them glares from across the greenhouse. They were practicing the _Orchideous_ spell. Giggling could be heard anywhere there was a couple as the cheesier guys were presenting their girlfriends with flowers.

"For you, my lady?" Harry said in a faux-cultured accent, conjuring a large bouquet of peppermint colored roses.

Hermione giggled.

Overhearing some of the nearby conversations, Harry frowned. Apparently, some girls were of the opinion that Hermione had used a love potion on him. That wasn't all, though. It had become common knowledge that he had been in a row with Ron the night prior.

"That Lavender Brown is a terrible gossip. I think she was in the common room when it happened. Don't pay them any attention." Hermione soothed, leaning into him.

Herbology was followed by a free period.

"Mione, why don't we go for a walk?

The duo walked out the front door, revelling in the sunshine. Wary of the forest to their side, they strode hand in hand around the grounds. Two redheads wolf whistled from a shady corner of the castle, making Hermione blush and Harry grin. Fred and George were more like brothers than ever to him these days.

Harry felt happier than he had even been. His girlfriend strode by his side, he was learning new things, he had his own little family. Hermione, Fred, George, and someone else rose to mind when he thought of family. Dumbledore was like a grandfather to him, Molly and Arthur made for good surrogate parents, and most surprisingly Luna felt like a younger sister to him.

Ron didn't cross his mind at all while they walked. A constant smile adorned his face, mirrored on his partner's countenance. The twins shouted at them again, "Get a broom closet you two!" provoking another blush on Hermione.

Blush looked nice on Hermione. He'd do his best to make it a common expression. Harry shivered as they entered the cold shadow of Hogwarts, the sun having not risen far enough to light the whole grounds yet. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see some shimmering creature at the edge of the forest.

The walk led them to the lake, where they walked along the edge with waves lapping at the sand underneath them. A small tree rose in front of them. Grinning, Harry snapped and a picnic blanket appeared before them, lunch loaded onto it in baskets.

"You just broke Gamp's laws." said a thoroughly nonplussed Hermione.

Harry smirked and sat, patting the blanket next to him.

"I suppose you asked Dobby to bring some food here?" she asked.

"You weren't supposed to figure that out." pouted Harry.

Hermione smirked. "You _did_ pick a nice place for lunch, though. Under a tree on a hill overlooking the lake; cheesy but it is a gorgeous view."

They ate lunch with amicable chatter, taking longer than was strictly necessary in order to have as much time together as possible. Dobby had packed a delicious meal, chicken and various sides. Somehow the little elf had gotten some muggle soft drinks as well. Harry saved several to introduce to the twins, who would no doubt love them.

Despite having sat outside for over two hours, he still felt it was far too early when they had to go to arithmancy class.

o0O0o

The next day flew by before finally Wednesday arrived with Charms class. As the class ended, Harry approached Professor Flitwick.

"Professor, may I speak to you in private?" he asked.

"That would be fine. Step into my office." the short man responded. Harry followed him into an orderly office full of books, a fire crackling in the corner.

"Sir, three days ago I found out that Ravenclaw has a bullying problem and I wanted to bring it to your attention." Harry said, the professor's eyebrows rising.

"It's surprising to me, Mister Potter, that it is you who has brought me this information. I would have expected a Ravenclaw to tell me. It is also surprising that I wasn't aware of this, my Claws are expected to be honest and kind. May I ask how you discovered this?" Flitwick responded.

"Well, professor, I had been in a row with a friend and left the tower shortly afterwards. I was wandering and found myself on the seventh-floor where a young girl by the name of Luna approached me. I got her some shoes as she was wearing none and some robes as she had been shivering and stuck outside in nothing but a nightgown." he began.

"She told me about how they refer to her as 'Loonie' and they take her stuff. Some of the things she said implied that they often lock her from the tower and force her to sleep in the common room when they don't."

Professor Flitwick's eyes hardened. "I will a talk with the entire house at lunch then. The only people other than me who can lock the tower are the prefects. Rest assured that I will not allow this to continue." he said before awarding thirty points to Gryffindor and taking thirty from Ravenclaw.

"Thank you, professor." Harry said before leaving the classroom to return to Gryffindor tower during his free period.

Hermione stood waiting outside of the door, hand sliding into his when he left.

"What'd you need to talk to him for?" she asked.

"Do you know Luna? Luna Lovegood, she's a third-year Ravenclaw." Harry responded quietly so as to avoid being overheard.

"I think I've heard of her. She's odd." Hermione answered.

"Well, on Sunday after me and Ron had our row, I went for a walk around the castle. I ended up on the seventh-floor next to the room. Mione, Luna had been locked out of the tower in just a nightgown. No shoes or robes at all. She was shivering and I found out that pretty much all of Ravenclaw has been shunning her. Some of them have locked her out of the tower and taken her stuff." he said heatedly, some of the nearby people giving them some odd looks.

The couple entered the common room, Ron huffing off to the dorms when he saw them.

"That's terrible. I suppose Professor Flitwick was unaware of this?" she responded.

"Yeah. The entire house has been lying to him, even the prefects." Harry responded.

When lunchtime arrived Harry sat straight with anticipation. His eyes caught Luna's and she smiled at him. The twins sat across from Harry and noticed his grin.

"Harry," they spoke, "have you planned a prank?"

"It's not quite a prank but Ravenclaw is about to get a dressing down." Harry proclaimed.

The twins shared a slightly confused look and turned their heads to Ravenclaw's table. Lunch hadn't quite arrived on the tables and Professor Flitwick stood, standing on his chair. He pointed his wand at his throat and spoke a word before facing the hall.

Dumbledore rose. "Please give your attention to Professor Flitwick. He has a few things to say."

"Ravenclaw. Never before have I been so ashamed and disappointed. Today it was brought to my attention that you have a severe bullying problem," he addressed, "and it was brought to me by someone who isn't even one of you. Do any of you know what bullying problem I'm referring to?" he asked. Not a single Claw raised their hand or said that they did.

"Very well. Two hundred points from Ravenclaw. Prefects, turn your badges in to me after lunch. I do not understand at all why this would happen in my house. Where is the wit in being a bully? The intelligence? There is only one answer to that and it is the simple fact that there is none."

Shock rippled through the hall, cries erupting from the Ravenclaw table. Most of the table glared at Luna, who simply stood and walked to the Gryffindor table. She sat next to Harry and began to fill her plate with food.

o0O0o

Harry sat in the common room next to Hermione. They were finishing the homework they had for the week, a pile of books sitting off to the side waiting to be read. Many of the books were high-level spellbooks and borderline dark. Hermione had decided that if Harry was to face Voldemort he had better start training and learn more.

He had begrudgingly accepted on the promise of incentives for studying. As he finished his last assignment, a foot on the origins and effects of the Unforgivables, a prefect entered the room and informed Harry that the Headmaster wanted to see him. He gave Hermione a quick kiss before leaving.

"Good evening, Harry. Have you an idea of why I've called you in here?" Dumbledore spoke from across the desk.

"Yes sir, I suppose it's for lordship purposes?" Harry replied.

"You would be correct in assuming that. First though we may talk about less serious subjects. Lemon drop?"

Harry snorted at Dumbledore's persistent question. "Of course." he said.

Dumbledore looked briefly surprised before handing over a packaged muggle sweet. Popping it in his mouth, Harry decided he would definitely be accepting more of these in the future. They were sour, sweet, and bitter and wonderful.

"You're the first person to accept one of those, you know. People seem to get the preposterous idea that I put potions in them. I certainly do not, that would detract from the flavor." the Headmaster remarked.

"That's strange. So how have you been, professor?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I've been fine. The Triwizard Tournament has been being planned. Traditionally it has three parts to its gauntlet and we're deciding on the specifics of that. Dragons, mermen and a maze seem to be how it's going to go so far." Dumbledore announced.

"Wow. Who in their right mind would enter a contest like that?"

"Not many people, Harry. The younger, more impressionable people may have been interested but those of my age would not enter a tournament such as this." agreed Dumbledore.

"That sounds true enough. I have an odd question for you." Harry stated.

"Out with it then."

"Well, professor, what do you know about wandless magic?" he queried.

"The field of wandless magic isn't well known, as the best texts on it have been lost to time. Wands have been used for many thousands of years, ever since the first Egyptian settlers lived. I personally know very little wandless magic. Why do you ask?" Dumbledore answered.

Harry chewed on his words for a moment. "Well... A few days after the start of the semester I used wandless magic and discovered I have a talent for it."

"That's very impressive," Dumbledore said in a proud grandfather voice, "Would you care to demonstrate it?"

In response, Harry conjured a tiny dragon. It sat on Dumbledore's desk and paced back and forth, turning to Dumbledore and spitting sparks at him. Harry laughed as Dumbledore's beard caught fire, the Headmaster putting it out quickly before vanishing the puny beast.

"Marvelous," he spoke, "I don't believe I've ever seen anything quite like that before. The conjuration itself was impressive as well."

"Thank you." Harry said proudly.

"What's the largest thing you can conjure?" Dumbledore questioned curiously.

"I've not tested the upper limits but I think I could conjure perhaps a lion." Harry pondered.

"Shall we test it?"

"We could, I guess. But should we? If someone saw me do it the entire school would know and I'd rather keep it a secret." responded Harry.

"That's understandable. Why don't we try it in the forest then?" Dumbledore said in a manner implying that he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Okay. I am kind of curious now that you've brought the subject up."

They stood, Dumbledore putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. Fawkes flew from his perch, landing on the older man's shoulder and in a flash of fire they were gone.

Harry was delighted to find that this method of travel didn't leave him nauseous or on the ground. Looking around, he saw nothing but a large clearing with cages in various stages of assembly.

"Go on, conjure the largest thing you can. Don't hurt yourself, though." said a twinkle-eyed Dumbledore.

Harry's hands came up as he felt his magic inside of him. Drawing it to the surface of his hands he coaxed it out, commanding it into the shape of a lion. Tiredness washed over him and he stumbled, Dumbledore's hand latching onto his shoulder in a tight grip for someone of his age. The lion bounded out of sight.

"How do you do it, Harry?" Dumbledore's eyed gleamed, his inner Ravenclaw demanding answers.

"Well… I feel my magic. I draw it to the surface of my hands and I command it to take form. It's not conscious thought that commands it, though, it's something deeper. The best analogy I can think of is thoughts themselves. When you read, you can hear the words in your head, but the thoughts that create those words are the feeling you use when you do wandless magic." said a tired Harry.

Dumbledore held his hands out in front of him and a small flame flickered out. Disappointed, he sighed and Fawkes brought them back to the office. Opening his desk he pulled out a small vial of potion, handing it to Harry.

Harry shot it down, it tasted like peppermint. Immediately he felt better, more alert and excited.

"It's getting rather late. Harry, what do you know about being a lord?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Not much, I only know that it places me at the head of house position and allows me to make decisions for the benefit of my house. I know that as the lord of an Ancient and Noble House, I have a place on the Wizengamot."

"Your grasp of lordship is simple but that's a good description of what a lord does. Lords can make betrothal contracts, invest in companies, call upon their family's magic, and make banking decisions. Your wizengamot duties are more complicated. The Potter family holds a seat on the Wizengamot and you may vote on the passing of laws. If you wish you may accompany me to tomorrow's session." Dumbledore began.

"As you are still young and in school I would suggest you use a proxy. They would have the power to vote and a certain degree of autonomy that you would choose. I offer myself for that role. There are many customs and parties involved with being on the Wizengamot, those we will go over in the future."

"For now,though, I believe it is time for us to retire." he finished.

Harry yawned, the effect of the potion wearing off. "Okay, professor. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, my dear boy."

o0O0o

Harry sat at his desk in the Room of Requirement, dubbed so by the amazing Miss Granger. On the desk sat an unassuming letter he had penned nervously.

During a meeting with Dumbledore, he had let slip his burgeoning curiosity with other forms of transfiguration. After pondering for a moment the Headmaster had informed him that the only known form of transfiguration more difficult than conjuration was human transfiguration and the pinnacle of that was the animagus.

Harry had asked about how he would go about doing that, knowing that his godfather and the rest of the Marauders, including his father, had been animagi. He wished to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and form the second generation of Marauders. Fred and George had activated a prankster's gene inside him and he felt a burning desire to pull a huge prank on the school.

To truly become a new generation he would have to become an animagus though, and Dumbledore had informed him that Professor McGonagall could teach him. Later that week he had approached the teacher about learning. She had agreed, and when he had told her of his intentions to become the next Marauder, she simply advised him not to take anything too far.

His letter was to Sirius, telling him about his animagus training and Hermione and his row with Ron. Harry debated including his wandless magic in the letter but decided to keep it out, if that information was intercepted it could be disastrous.

The letter was folded and entered into an envelope. Harry made his way to the owlery across the school.

"Hi, Hedwig. Sorry for not coming around more often." he spoke while stroking the owl's feathers. She turned to face him and nipped his finger, making him yelp in pain. "Sorry!" he cried. Hedwig took the letter and flew out the window.

o0O0o

Defense Against the Dark Arts was still Harry's favorite class despite the insanity of their teacher. Posters shouted randomly at them, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" they screamed. Harry was a little unnerved by the subject matter of the year, though. Today Moody was going to perform the _Imperius_ on them.

Harry and Hermione had arrived early. Harry had read through his entire stock of books for the year, the couch and Hermione were very nice for that. " _Homenum Revelio_ " he whispered, glancing around. He caught a glimpse of red in the corner of the room. Their mad teacher sat disillusioned in a position perfect for an ambush.

The rest of the class flooded in, not a single person checking for their teacher. Harry was surprised, if there was anything Moody had taught them it was that you should always check for enemies before settling in. A tripping jinx flew from the corner, catching an unfortunate Neville and tripping him. The boy caught himself with a surprising amount of muscle and pushed himself upright.

"Constant vigilance!" the man in the corner roared, startling the class.

He stood and undid his disillusionment, standing at the front desk.

"Only two people in this entire class did anything to ascertain whether or not there was anything in this room," the grizzled auror began, "Those being Potter and Granger."

"Had I been an actual opponent all of you would have died, Potter and Granger included. The time it took them to check was time I could've taken them down in. Today we will be attempting to throw off the Imperius, something I doubt many of you will manage today." Moody growled.

His wand whipped up, aiming for Ron, who jumped onto the table and began to dance. Ron didn't even know _how_ to dance! Moody cancelled the curse and Ron stumbled, nearly falling off the desk. He looked extremely embarrassed. The room laughed before the professor used the spell again, this time aiming for Neville, who cartwheeled down the central aisle.

The wand aimed at Harry this time and he felt the need to do a backflip. A voice at the back of his head, one that was decidedly not his own, insisted that he do it. Recalling the analogy Harry had used to describe wandless magic he overpowered the magic that was causing these compulsions and broke the curse. The entire class was staring.

Smiling, Harry waved at the rest of the class. He was sure everyone in the castle would know by the end of the day. Hermione was Moody's next target, and she stood up before sitting down. A large smirked covered her face. By the time the class ended nobody else had managed to stand up to the curse.

o0O0o

Breakfast came along with the highlight of Harry's day. Hedwig swooped down in front of him, taking a juicy piece of bacon in her beak. Harry untied the letter attached to her leg. He hoped Sirius had taken him seriously when he'd asked him to stay out of the country.

' _Nice try, Harry.  
I'm back in the country and I'll be in touch.  
I'm extremely proud of you and wish you the best in your animagus training. Tell me when you find out! Your father would be proud too. I'm happy you've finally gotten together with Hermione, you two are perfect for each other. Keep me posted on the castle and keep switching owls, Hedwig is too noticeable to use._

 _Sirius_

The rest of the day passed by in a blur after he had read that, leading up to the beginning of the Triwizard Tournament.

The entire student population was outside the castle in anticipation for the arrival of the two other schools involved in the tournament. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be arriving by unknown means.

Harry had conjured a seat when nobody had been looking and Hermione sat in his lap. They stared at the night sky, stars gleaming and not a cloud in sight. Their eyes focussed on a faraway point of blackness that was growing larger as the minutes passed. A huge blue carriage soared over the forest, slowing to a halt and landing with an almighty crash. The horses pulling the carriage were huge, each as large as an elephant and winged.

A boy leapt from the carriage as soon as it had stopped completely, fumbling with something for a moment before a golden set of stairs descended from the door to the carriage.

The largest woman Harry had ever seen stepped from the powder-blue carriage, each foot the size of a child's sled. She looked over the crowd of students silently, Dumbledore beginning applause that was soon picked up by the rest of Hogwarts. The Beauxbatons lady stepped towards Dumbledore, who kissed her extended hand and proceeded to converse about the status of Durmstrang before delegating the responsibility for the steeds to Hagrid.

Behind the lady stood two dozen shivering students, none wearing cloaks and only a few wearing scarves or shawls. They stood for several minutes, the silence broken only by the stamping and snorting of the huge horses, before finally an eerie noise filled the air. It was as though an immense vacuum cleaner was sucking through the lake.

"The lake," yelled an excited Lee Jordan, "Look at the lake!"

A gargantuan whirlpool had formed in the center of it, a mast ascending from the core of the vortex followed shortly by a large pirate-like ship. It glided towards the lake's coast, an anchor splashing down in shallow water and a long plank extended from the deck. Portholes lit and dimmed across the length of the boat as students moved behind them.

Light shone across the deck, students streaming from a door on the boat. Each student was covered by a thick cloak of matted fur.

A certain redheaded prat could be heard enthusiastically shouting about Viktor Krum being amongst the ranks of Durmstrang students.

Not long after the introductions did the assembled students file in for dinner. Chatter could be heard about asking Krum for his autograph, something Harry frankly couldn't understand. He was just a quidditch player.

The Durmstrang contingent passed the Gryffindor's table oblivious to the hisses for Krum to join them. Ron could be heard loudly bemoaning the misfortune as their guests rolled their eyes. Harry made note of where the new students sat, Durmstrang joining Slytherin and Beauxbatons sitting with Ravenclaw.

Dinner passed slowly, the judges for the tournament arriving and Dumbledore announcing that the tournament would be opened at the end of dinner. A veela from the French school had come to the Gryffindor and asked for the bouillabaisse, leaving the guys tongue-tied save for Harry, who rolled his eyes and handed the witch the food. She looked curiously at Harry before turning and returning to her table.

The Goblet of Fire was rolled into the hall, the tournament officially beginning and Dumbledore announced the protections around it to prevent students too young from joining. The twins looked mischievous, clearly planning to get in despite Dumbledore's words,

For the first time in many years, the Triwizard Tournament would be being held and Harry couldn't bring himself to care.

 **A/N 5,000 views and nearly 170 followers! I'm amazed!**


	4. Things Get Worse

Disclaimer: First chapter, people. We've been through this.

A/N: I'm sorry for the late chapter (again). I attempted to keep myself on a schedule and I'm afraid schedules don't work with me. I've had some friends visiting from another state and spent most of my time with them. I made a commitment to this story and I'm not honoring it. From here on out I, make no promises regarding the timing between them.

Chapter 5: The Choosing of the Champions

o0O0o

Waking bright and early the next morning, Harry wandered to the Common Room as he so often did. He had more than an hour before breakfast and decided he'd like to review his animagus notes. So far his lessons with McGonagall were going well. However, he was a little disappointed as the actual transformation wouldn't be allowed for another two weeks.

Glimpses of his animagus form had not been as elusive. Meditation had helped him understand himself much better, part of the requirement for the transformation itself. It was frustrating to see only frames of its existence but so far it felt powerful. A mane and scales were what he'd seen for the most part though he could feel that something went with them. Part of him desperately hoped whatever it was could fly; flying was his strongest suit despite his newfound skill in runes.

As his thought process stirred up his ability in runes, he slumped. Hermione, though she was far too proud to admit it, was annoyed. She'd been in the class for a year that Harry hadn't, yet he was always a step ahead of her. Runes came naturally to him, though arithmancy was definitely his girlfriend's thing; she was truly gifted.

After Harry's experiment in potions, he had been unable to progress past making minor edits to inconsequential brews. Quality wasn't an issue in his potions anymore now that he understood the importance of order and the meaning behind ingredients, but the potions themselves weren't better than anyone else's. Well, perhaps they were better than Neville's; the poor boy's only talent in potions was flashy failures.

Pulling himself from his errant thoughts, Harry began to read over the notes he'd made of his visions.

-Immense size, feels long. Perhaps it's some sort of huge snake?

Harry shuddered, the very thought of being a huge, slimy snake was terrible. A little over a year and a half ago, people had believed he was the heir of Slytherin, not to mention that if he was a snake, the Gryffindors would feel honor-bound to shun him. The feeling of immense size was also worrying; if he was a large creature and snakelike, it was possible he could have been a basilisk.

-Scaly but there's some sort of mane near its head. Maybe it's a frill, I can't tell for sure. A huge frilled lizard would be kinda cool, I guess. Of course, they could also be horns, in which case I could be a dragon. That would be amazing.

\- Some sort of protrusions on its back. Could be wings, could be something else, but I really hope they're wings. Just imagine flying without a broom! That'd be so cool!

A smile broke across Harry's face. Being able to fly would be awesome. When he was on a broom he felt he had only one restraint, the broom itself. After years of abuse and neglect by his 'family', the feeling of being free was the best thing in Harry's life save for Hermione.

Several minutes passed as he began to meditate. This corner of the room was typically pretty quiet. A large window sat where the two walls met and several bean bags sat. Upon taking notice of the corner, he had been surprised to find the bags here; they were very informal and Hogwarts, even if it wasn't the most formal of places, was not a place he had expected to find these.

Sitting in one, Harry pulled his legs close to him and leaned into the large, soft pillow. Carefully noting his sleepiness, he made sure not to fall asleep. Quickly he fell into a trance, the feeling of falling overwhelming him before he saw the palace in his head that he'd built. It helped him to focus his thoughts and made the visions come more easily to him. Occlumency had been suggested by McGonagall and it was relatively easy for him. Imagination had been his only escape when hiding in his cupboard.

Harry marched down the hallway into the room he'd created specifically for animagus purposes. Walls of alabaster and a pool of shimmering silver fluid greeted him when the door opened. Even though Harry was in his own mind, he wasn't entirely sure what the fluid was; the closest comparison would be his idea of liquid memories. He theorised that the liquid was something more primal than thoughts, a physical (well, not really) manifestation of the same thing he used for wandless magic.

Focussing on his form, the pool shifted, rippling and turning into a hazy video. The previous glimpses he'd seen flew past, scales filling his vision. Pulling his feet into the air, he began to meditate, an action that had confused him when he'd learned it first. Meditating while meditating seemed too bizarre to be real. Images flashed on the surface as he drew into his form.

Before he completed the process a sound startled him from meditation in both worlds. Twin redheads nodded at him from the other side of the common room, sitting and preparing coffee.

Harry shook himself from mental whiplash and cast the time charm they'd studied in the last charms class. Breakfast would start in half an hour. Shortly afterwards the couches began to fill with sleepy students, Hermione arriving and immediately beelining to him. She flopped down in his lap, pushing him deeper into the cushion. Snuggles ensued and Harry wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

A small sadness flitted through his mind. Today was the thirteenth anniversary of his parent's death. Over the past few years he'd never had time to mourn, something had always come up. This year there was the tournament and Harry was sure something would come up. Last night he had been uncaring but today there was a real chance his name would leave the liquid flame inside the cup.

Little sounds emerged from the girl on his chest. Harry watched her chest rise and fall slowly; she had fallen asleep. It was adorable and many of his year mates had taken notice. Lavender Brown was talking animatedly with her friend Parvati, an Indian girl. She clearly thought Harry and Hermione were the cutest thing since kittens.

It wasn't until breakfast started that Hermione woke. She looked up into his eyes and blushed, "Harry? Were you looking at my chest?"

Realisation and mortification filled Harry's emerald orbs. "Er," he stammered, "I- I was watching you sleep? You were breathing so peacefully and it was… what's the word? Hypnotic, I think."

Hermione giggled drowsily but the blush stayed. "I'm not sure whether I'm relieved or disappointed. A little of both, maybe." she yawned.

Mouth working like a fish on land, Harry decided perhaps it was better not to respond. His girlfriend kissed him on the cheek and stood up, smoothing her robes and combing her hair with her hands.

The couple left shortly after, walking hand in hand to the Great Hall. Harry's good mood was beginning to dissipate as the grieving for his parents set in and the dread of today began to cloak him. Something would happen, it always did. Deciding to focus on happier things, he leaned into Hermione.

As they sat at the table, a dreamy-eyed Luna glided into the seat across from them.

"Good morning, Harry." she said to a somewhat astonished pair.

"What is she doing here?" asked Ron from several seats down the table.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Luna, are you allowed to sit at tables apart from your house's?"

"Of course, sitting at other tables is encouraged. Even if it wasn't I'd still sit here." said Luna.

Ron looked peeved but after a hard pat on the back from his twin siblings, he quieted down.

Owls fluttered down, an exceedingly plain owl landing in front of Harry; immediately taking a piece of bacon and sticking it's leg out.

"Must be from Sirius." Harry muttered, careful to avoid being heard.

"Sirius, as in Sirius Black? My dad thinks he's actually Stubby Boardman." Luna claimed.

"What?"

"Daddy writes a newspaper called the Quibbler. Surely you've read it?" the odd girl stated.

"I don't believe I have. Actually, I've never heard of it. But what about Sirius? Er… Stubby." responded Harry.

"Not surprising, many people don't like it. For some reason, the populace believes it to be full of myths. I've written a few articles for it myself, I want to be a journalist like my dad. We think Sirius Black is actually the pseudonym Stubby Boardman is using to avoid his fans. He's the lead singer of the Hobgoblins. " said Luna.

Harry laughed incredulously. "That's bizarre. I'm afraid I must tell you that Sirius is not a singer at all."

"Daddy will be ever so disappointed." Luna frowned.

Hermione looked at the girl, breaking her frown ."I've just had a wonderful idea."

"Oh? Do tell," Luna said curiously.

"Well, Harry's been a little down today," she began as Harry attempted to protest it before being silenced by a jab to the side, "After all, it was on this day thirteen years ago that his parents gave their lives to save him. He never got to mourn them properly what with all the chaos and issues Hallow's Eve typically brings him."

"So, seeing as how you're a writer, I was thinking perhaps you could write an article about the day from his perspective. I'm sure Harry here would be willing to give you an interview."

"Well… I guess I could. Sometimes it makes me uncomfortable how much of the credit I'm given for the defeat of Voldemort. I know I never did a thing."

"We should postpone the interview until after breakfast. I don't fancy writing on an empty stomach. If we get it written before lunch I can owl it to daddy and get it published in the dinner edition." Luna proposed, her index finger pressed to her chin in thought.

"Sounds good to me. How have things been in Ravenclaw?" Harry questioned quietly.

"Things have changed a lot, the wrackspurts leave me alone now. Professor Flitwick was quite furious that first night. He was so mad his aura flared and some of the books flew off the shelves. I think it's amazing, little moonpups starting dancing on his skin." she responded,

"Um… Moonpups?" Hermione said.

"Yes, they're often mistaken for static buildup, but that's just their fur. They look like tiny lightning bolts."

Hermione simply shook her head and began to eat.

"Quite a few students have apologized to me. I forgave them but if it happens in the future I don't think I will. Actually, I think I'll just get Harry and let him deal with it, he's good at that." Luna stated.

Harry snorted, choking on his juice and staring at Luna. "What?"

"You certainly left an impression on them, I don't think they want to make you mad. Wrackspurts go out of their way to avoid you."

Putting down his fork, Harry closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head. "Just when I thought perhaps everything would die down, I go and frighten a whole house."

A giggling Hermione nudged his shoulder. "Maybe we should look into any curses on you, perhaps something similar to the defense position was placed on you. Merlin knows you can't go a day without something spectacular happening,"

"That might not be a bad idea." Harry sighed.

o0O0o

Breakfast was over and the trio lounged in a cozy room on one of the upper hallways. After searching for a comfortable place to conduct the interview, they'd discovered this place. It was perfect for their purpose. Harry and Hermione sat on the loveseat, which had been coated in dust until they'd arrived.

Luna was perched on a throne-like chair across from them, behind a small desk. She'd laughed and said she felt more like a queen than a reporter but began the discussion quickly enough, adopting the look of a seasoned journalist.

"Now, Lord Potter, do you remember what happened that night?"

Memories surfaced and Harry recalled shouting and lights. It was quite blurry to his infant self, but he could make out his mother. "I recall my parents being in the same room as I was, and I think my dad saw something from a window. He… yelled something at my mom, "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run!" I think. My dad tried to hold him off but he was killed shortly after." Harry's voice wavered, the memory was painful.

Hermione leaned against him, her grip tightening on his hand comfortingly.

"Voldemort blew open the door to the room which my mum had blocked with furniture. He asked her to step aside, I don't know why he didn't just kill her, but when she refused he used the killing curse," he choked, "I saw her fall to the ground in front of me. When he tried to curse me everything turned green and when my vision cleared he was nothing more than robes."

"Everything is blurry from then on. I heard Sirius shouting downstairs, or at least I think it was him, and he came to get me. After that Hagrid showed up and I recall a motorcycle taking me somewhere. That's all I remember." he said as he eyes watered. The memory was typically kept under tight lock, nightmares featuring his parents' death had always plagued him.

"Do you know why you can remember that night?" the girl said quietly.

"As far as I know there's no real reason. It may have something to do with my scar or the curse but I don't know what else could've caused it."

He felt exhausted and surprisingly drained. Hermione sat in his lap, holding him tightly. Luna was solemn as she wrote, and when she finished her notes she looked up.

"Harry, Hermione," she began, "I think it's only fair that I share some of my past as well." Her typical dreamy expression had faded entirely.

"When I was nine years old, my mother died." she murmured softly.

Hermione gasped.

"I was there, she was a brilliant witch. Every day from sunrise to sunset, she would work on creating new spells. One such spell backfired on that day. I saw her-" Luna cut off, eyes tearing up. A moment passed and she pulled herself together again. "I held her in my arms as she died. It broke my father, he began to see things he couldn't see before."

"He wanted me to see them too, to share the amazing things with me. I tried my hardest but I couldn't, but I wanted to make him happy. He was the only person left I was close with and I started acting more like him. That's never been who I am really but it was easier to be like that, it was believable. Nobody questioned it." she said, tears flooding past her eyes.

"But I didn't really have friends until now. It's different with friends, it feels like a lie."

"I… I need to be alone. I'm sorry." the broken girl whimpered.

Luna began walking from the room. Harry called after her but she didn't come back.

"Let's give her some time to work things out. We'll see her at lunch." Hermione said worriedly.

Harry nodded, tired and aching from the emotional meeting. He barely saw where Hermione was leading him until the wall in front of him turned to a door. The room contained behind it was simple, a large bed next to a window with a dresser and desk sitting nearby. An entire wall was coated in a bookshelf sagging under the weight of so many scripts.

Hermione sat on the bed and tugged Harry with her.

"What's this about?" he asked, confused.

"Well, this is my room. You looked exhausted and emotionally drained so I thought I should get your mind off of it." she said.

"Oh, well, um… What exactly were you planning?" Harry colored.

Hermione flushed. "Nothing like that!" she insisted, "Just a nap. I mean, if you really wanted to I guess we technically could but I-" she cut off and looked away, cheeks bright red.

If Harry didn't feel so bad he would have laughed. "I get it, 'Mione. I don't think I want to do that just yet either. A nap sounds wonderful. Why'd you pick your room, though?"

"Um… Well, it's what comes to mind when I think of bedrooms."

"Okay. Will we be sleeping together?" Harry questioned tiredly.

Hermione blushed again. "Yes. Feel free to get comfortable."

Harry took off his robes, cheeks fiery as he stripped to just his boxers. Hermione was just as colorful. As he slid under the sheets he looked over at Hermione, who grew even rosier and reached down, pulling off her robes before turning away and removing her shirt and pants. Harry wrapped his arms around her as she lay next to him.

At that moment, Harry knew he'd never willingly leave her. Words that couldn't quite reach his lips echoed through his mind.

'I love you.'

o0O0o

When Harry woke hours later, he didn't want to move. The moment was perfect, up until he realised a few things.

One, his hand had migrated to her breast, and two, he was far too aware of his lower half. Mortification crawled over his skin like thousands of ants. Shifting slightly backwards he hoped more than anything that Hermione didn't wake up at that moment.

Several minutes passed and his erection passed to his relief. That left one problem left to deal with. Very slowly he moved his hand, mentally cursing when she stirred. The groggy witch scooted backwards, cuddling into him and forcing his hand back. His arm was pinned now.

It took a moment but then she woke up. Harry saw her blush but she didn't move to remove his hand from its position. Again, Harry tried to move his hand.

"Harry?" her voice sounded.

Swearing in his mind, he apologised.

"My hand moved while I was sleeping, I swear!"

"No, it's okay." Hermione blushed.

"You're not mad?" he puzzled, entirely surprised by her lack of anger.

"We've been together for nearly two months and we've known each other for four years. I know you'd never take advantage of me." she said.

"Actually, I kind of like it." she spoke meekly, crimson flooding her face.

His hand didn't move at all. If Hermione was fine with it, he supposed it was okay. Her body flipped to face his and she kissed him, pressing against him.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" he asked suddenly.

She smiled and kissed him again, this time lasting longer.

"Have I ever told you how much of a handsome devil you are?"

"Maybe once or twice." Harry responded cheekily.

A moment of contented silence passed, soft kisses every few seconds breaking the silence. Light shone through the window, illuminating her hair and making her face almost glow. This, he decided, was as good a time as any to say what had been bugging him.

"I love you, Hermione Granger."

She froze for a second before melting into his grasp, pulling herself as close to him as possible.

Blush ran rampant on her face, tingling down to her toes as she processed it. The sincerity and love behind the simple statement filled her with warmth.

"I love you too."

For a long time they lay there, staring into one another's eyes. Contentedness filled them but they eventually had to leave, dressing and exiting the room.

All sense of time had been lost and they found the time was an hour after lunch. The elves fixed them a quick meal that they ate with light chatter before setting out to find Luna. That would be their top priority for the rest of the day.

As they left the kitchens where they had eaten, they bumped into two redheads.

"Harry!" Fred (or George?) cried.

"Just the guy we wanted to see!"

"Lady Hermione," one said, bowing ridiculously,

"May we borrow-"

"Your boyfriend-"

"For a moment?"

"We promise-"

"We'll return him-"

"In the same shape-"

"We first had him in." they finished.

Hermione sighed. "Okay, but we really must be leaving soon. Don't take too long."

Harry grinned, the twins were always a pleasure to be around. He wondered what they needed from him. Ducking around a corner, the terrible twosome pulled him with them.

"Harry, this was-"

"Entirely unplanned."

"But we-"

"Couldn't help but-"

"Notice you're quite-"

"A bit closer than-"

"Normal with-"

"Your girlfriend."

"As such, we-"

"Have decided to-"

"Bestow upon you-"

"Some knowledge that-"

"Served our predecessors-"

"Oh, good word there Forge. Besides that-"

"The information was passed-"

"From messers Padfoot,"

"Prongs,"

"And Moony-"

"To us."

"Meet us in-"

"The common room-"

"When you have-"

"The chance."

"Sure thing, guys." said Harry good-naturedly. He was in a superb mood after the nap with Hermione, though that might have more to do with seeing her half-naked than with the sleep itself.

Back in the hallway directly outside of the kitchen, Hermione stood waiting.

"I think we've been infected with wizarding logic. We have a powerful artifact that we could use to locate Luna and we haven't used it at all." he said to her.

Hermione groaned. "I think that might be truer than you'd like to believe. Let's go get the map."

A few minutes later they found themselves on the fourth floor in an abandoned classroom. Luna was passed out in a comfortable chair. Tear stains streaked down her cheeks.

"Luna," Harry whispered, nudging her shoulder, 'Wake up."

Luna yawned drowsily, reaching up and rubbing her eyes. "Hm? What is it?" she said before her eyes fully opened. "Oh, it's you guys. I suppose I should have expected you'd find me. What do you want?" she whispered with a guarded look.

"Well, of course we looked for you. That's what friends do, right?" grinned Hermione.

The younger girl looked confused before a smile broke out across her face. "Oh, thank you so much! I was worried that you wouldn't want to be my friends since I've been a little fake with you guys."

"We don't mind, I understand what it's like to build a different persona." Harry confessed.

Hermione pulled out her wand and cast a scourgify on the girl. The tear streaks disappeared as the girl thanked Hermione, standing and following them out of the room.

"How'd you find me anyway?" she asked.

"Well, we've got a map that shows us where everyone is." Harry responded cheerily.

"That's amazing, may I see it?" inquired Luna.

"Of course," he said as he passed the map from his pocket to her, "did you ever get that article written?"

Luna swore, an odd thing to hear from the innocent looking girl. "Oh, bloody buggering hell… Shit." she cursed, causing a scandalised expression to show on Hermione's face and laughter to roar from Harry.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to curse. Actually, I did…" Luna blushed.

"I'll take that as a no. It's fine, you can simply send it out tomorrow. Maybe you can get something about the champions for the Triwizard Tournament into the paper as well." consoled a laughing Harry.

"Thanks. I'll try my best, I get the odd feeling something's going to happen."

o0O0o

Shortly before dinner, Harry met with the twins in the common room.

"Hey guys, what do you need? Is it business related?"

"Oh, no. Certainly-"

"Not. We simply-"

"Wish to pass some-"

"Books to you."

They both grinned wickedly before handing Harry a gift-wrapped bundle of books.

"Don't open that here."

"Open it upstairs when nobody's looking."

"Okay. Whatever this is, I'm sure you'll want a memory of me opening it. I'll be off now."

The dorms were empty at the moment. He sat on his four-poster bed and cast a few privacy charms; whatever these books were, he'd rather not let anyone else know.

As the ribbon fell away the paper dissolved. Three small books sat there, bound in leather and titled, "Prongs: A Guide to Charm", "Padfoot: A Guide to Pleasure", and "Moony: A Guide to Success". The second one scared him a little, Sirius was known for being a dog and not in the literal sense.

Opening the first book, he saw his father's handwriting. The first page described the purpose of the journal as how to woo women. A few paragraphs in he could tell this would be appreciated by Hermione.

When he opened the second book, he mentally prepared himself. By the title, he knew it was likely detailing intimate things that he'd tried to ignore. By the second paragraph, he was already embarrassed. It had chapters unlike the other one, the first being; "Over 69 ways to please a girl".

Finally he opened Lupin's guide. This one would likely be extremely useful, the chapter titles detailed defensive magic and offensive magic. So many spells were contained in this book.

Returning to the common room, he saw Fred and George flash a swift thumbs up at him along lopsided grins.

"Why'd you give me those books exactly?" he asked.

"Well," George began mischievously,

"You and Hermione seemed close." Fred continued.

"You've been together for two months." the other elaborated.

"Really though it's been longer, McGonagall won some bets regarding your relationship."

"Wait, what?!" Harry exclaimed, "McGonagall, our McGonagall? Betting on students?"

"More on that later."

"Anyways-"

"Those books are-"

"extremely good advice."

"Consult them-"

"When you need to."

Hermione came down from her dorm, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek and sitting in his lap.

"What's this about?"

"Just some words of advice-"

"From the current pranksters-"

"To the son of legends."

Hermione rolled her eyes before giving Harry a warning look. "You better not prank me."

"Definitely not," he gulped, "that reminds me though."

"How would you all like to join me in the new Marauders?"

Fred and George looked at each other before kneeling and putting their hands at his feet.

"We would be honored-"

"Oh mighty Marauder."

Harry rolled his eyes at the twin's antics.

"And you, 'Mione?"

"Well, I suppose someone has to keep you guys out of trouble." she responded.

The twins pouted. "But isn't that the point of being a Marauder?"

She thought for a moment before responding. "Well, from a certain standpoint, I guess it is. But it's more to prank people and never get in trouble for it because you don't get caught."

The twins looked at each other yet again and bowed. "Of course, Madame Marauder."

o0O0o

Dinner had arrived and the group was laughing and joking. The Beauxbatons students all entered their names and shortly afterwards Krum made a show of entering his name. Applause had been thrown from every corner of the hall when he'd done so, many people placing bets on his performance.

Fred and George attempted to enter only to be thrown back, wearing matching white beards. Laughter echoed uproariously throughout the room, especially loud from Harry's sector of the Gryffindor table. Wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, Harry saw the twins being scolded by their girlfriends.

As dinner rolled to a close, the lights dimmed. Blue fire filled the goblet to the brim, shading the hall an eerie cobalt. After a few words from the Headmaster, the hall quieted down. Many gasps were heard when blue sparks flew from the goblet, spitting out the first name, which Dumbledore immediately grabbed.

"Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons." he intoned, polite applause filling the air.

The next slip of paper shot from the flames. "Viktor Krum, Durmstrang." This time, the clapping and cheering reached a painful volume.

"Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts." Dumbledore smiled, obvious favoritism showing.

Harry turned to Fred and George while Hufflepuff table roared their approval.

"Hufflepuff is going to be smug until the end of the year." he laughed.

"Oh, of course."

"But it will probably last beyond next year."

"Every Hufflepuff currently at Hogwarts will know about it."

"They'll be insufferable for the next seven."

His grin grew wider. "Want to bet on it?"

In the brief silence while the twins were debating it, he realised the entire hall was silent.

Everyone's eyes were focussed on him. Hermione was staring in shock at Dumbledore, whose face was grim.

"Shite." whispered Luna, eyes wide and gazing sadly at Harry.

"Harry, please come forward." the ancient man looked older than ever.

He didn't understand what happened. For just a few seconds, he'd turned away and he'd missed something extremely important.

Of course, with a tournament like this, only one thing could be have happened when he'd looked away. A fourth competitor was named; him.

In the silence of the Great Hall, Harry's groan was heard by everyone.

o0O0o

Weary from the meeting and inquiries into how he was entered, Harry walked into the common room. Not a single person was absent and everyone was staring at him.

"What did I miss this time?" Harry groaned.

"We've called a meeting." said a prefect.

"You've entered yourself into the tournament. Gryffindors, while brave, are not stupid. Entering the tournament was incredibly dumb and you should be ashamed. As such, we prefects have decided to strip you of being a Gryffindor.

Shock rippled through the crowd. Harry felt his stomach drop and his magic started to swirl.

"What?! You honestly believe that?" he demanded.

"Of course. How else would you come out of the goblet? You, Harry Potter, are cast from Gryffindor until you prove yourself worthy again." the prefect spat. Harry didn't know their name but he would be reporting him to McGonagall.

Then murmurs of assent began to rise. Rage flooded into his veins. "Fine! If you don't want me to be a Gryffindor, I won't be!" Harry yelled, magic beginning to swirl. His robes changed from gold and red to black and white.

Hermione walked to Harry and changed her robes' color.

"We won't stand for this." the twins said simultaneously, pulling their wands from their robes. "If he goes, we go."

Most of the crowd simply glared at the pranksters and pulled their own wands. Even Ron pulled his own.

"So be it." Fred said.

"Alright, Forge, we'll be on our way then."

"All too right, Gred." George growled, turning his robes the same color as Harry's.

"Alicia?"

"Angelina?"

The two girls looked at each other, looked back at the twins, and shook their heads. "We'll talk later."

The four left the common room and began to pace.

"How could they! Why would they betray me like that? It's like none of them have common sense!" Harry ranted.

"That was definitely not very Gryffindor of them." said Hermione.

"We agree." the twins agreed.

"Now what do we do?" asked Harry, his voice breaking from exhaustion and stress.

"Well, I suppose we could use the room of requirement as our own house. We can talk with Professor McGonagall tomorrow afternoon." Hermione suggested.

"Wonderful idea, Madame Marauder."

"In fact, we should create a new house!"

Hermione groaned. "Are you seriously going to keep that name?" she asked.

"Yes. We need real Marauder names though, but that's for another time."

Arriving at the seventh-floor corridor, Harry began thinking of what he needed. A common room and dorms were obvious but he could do more. They'd add anything later, he supposed.

Sitting on the couches in front of the fire, Harry put his head in his hands. Ever since he'd woken up, it had been an emotional roller coaster, with the interview then a nap with Hermione then this.

"Hermione?" he asked softly.

"What is it, love?" she said, sitting next to him.

"Would you mind sharing a dorm with me?"

She blushed but nodded. "I'd love that. It might be hard to adjust to sleeping alone in the future though."

The twins winked at Harry simultaneously. Harry thought he'd definitely look into how they did things so in sync. Fred and George shared a sudden expression of realisation and began to speak.

"Harry, since we aren't Gryffs anymore, we really do need a new house. We even have our own house quarters!"

"What would we call ourselves? I swear if you say Potter…" he laughed with a hint of stress induced delirium, running his fingers through his tousled hair.

"Hmm, since we're focussed on winning, we could have a niffler as our symbol. We want that gold cup." proposed a tired Hermione.

"Scamander House!" shouted the twins immediately before breaking out in laughter. "Oh, that's brilliant! We'd kiss you if Harry weren't so intimidating."

A knock at the door called their attention away.

On the other side of the door was Luna and Neville to their confusion.

"One of the gossip-y types in Ravenclaw got a message of some sort from a Gryffindor, I imagine it'll be all over the castle by tomorrow. I was going to go and yell at the Gryffindors but Neville already did so before he left. Then I went looking for you, I remember from the first time I met Harry that this place could be a room and I thought this would be a good place to start looking." Luna informed them.

Neville smiled shyly and waved at them.

"Wow, thanks, Neville. I didn't know you had it in you. Hey, Luna." Harry responded, a genuine smile gracing his face for the first time in an hour.

Everyone stared at the three, mouths working like a fish out of water. When they'd regained some sanity, Neville asked for clarification. The twins repeated their earlier idea about the house and Neville proudly agreed, wanting to be part of the house.

"We value loyalty and strive to win." he said, confidence surfacing in him. A wide grin broke out across his face. " I should write a letter to Gran, yelling at them felt good. Really good."

Luna and the twins yawned all at the same time. "Bloody hell, I'm knackered. I think it's about time we got to sleep." murmured the blonde.

"That sounds amazing. We can continue this in the morning." Harry nodded his assent, Hermione taking him by the wrist and leading him up the stairs. Climbing into bed for the second time that day, the couple snuggled close together, enjoying the closeness and warmth.

"Goodnight, 'Mione. Love you." whispered Harry, Hermione pulling herself closer to him in response as she drifted to sleep; the dreamscape claiming Harry only moments later.

o0O0o

'I could really get used to this.' thought Harry when he woke next to his girlfriend. She had yet to stir but Harry was fine with that, it meant more time he got to spend in heaven. Unlike yesterday he hadn't woken in such an odd position which he was glad for.

In the dim light he studied Hermione's face. Her mousey nose and curled hair flattened on one side from sleep. Her lips inches from his own, perfect for kisses. She was always beautiful but when she was asleep, she was downright adorable. Somewhere in his mind, Harry knew he should try to fall back to sleep, as it was far too early to wake. Somewhere between four and five in the morning.

Hours later, he woke again, this time to Hermione's eyes. A kiss later and he was fully awake.

"Morning, love. What time is it?" he asked. A clock appeared on the wall next to the bed displaying 8 o'clock and he nearly swore, but he was more confused by the appearance of the thing.

"Harry, I don't think we've got classes today, no need to worry about that." Hermione smirked, clearly knowing something he didn't.

"Why's that?' Harry responded, remembering the night before and the room of requirement.

"Well, you see, you're not a Hogwarts student for the time being due to the Goblet choosing you. We were all cast out of Gryffindor and that makes us houseless and thus without scheduled classes." grinned Hermione. Harry was confused.

"You seem awfully happy about missing classes. Care to explain?"

"I can always catch up later. In the meantime, I get to spend the day with you." Hermione answered, kissing him again.

All of his memories flooded back and he paled. Hermione frowned, worry lining her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling herself closer to him.

"I just remembered last night. The tournament… Merlin, how am I supposed to do this? Now that I've not got classes, what do I do to prepare?"

"We can study together. You're already good at runes, I can help with anything arithmetic, I hear Fred and George are particularly good at potions and the like with their experimentation, and Neville's a whiz at herbology. Luna could probably help you with something too." said Hermione, confidence hiding the hint of worry in her voice. Harry would be fine, he had to be.

"Maybe. That's a good idea actually, we can do classes together, each of us teaching the others a different subject. That would give us five classes if Luna can help or if the twins take on a class each. Do you think anyone else is going to join us?" Harry asked, his fears soothed.

"I bet the twins' girlfriends will join us. They're the chasers for the Quidditch team and I can't imagine they're very happy with the rest of Gryffindor right now. I don't know if anyone else on the team will leave though. Beyond that I'm unsure, maybe?" she spoke.

The couple lay in bed for a few more minutes before dressing and heading to the common room, the twins and Luna sitting at a table with coffee while Neville sat writing on a desk nearby. The colors of the room had changed from simple grey to purple and white to his surprise.

"Morning everyone. What's with the new colors?"

"Well, all of the other colors were taken. We think they fit." Luna said.

"Yeah, purple is a color associated with royalty and white with optimism." Neville agreed.

Hermione waved her wand over her robes and Harry's, adjusting them to their new scheme. She eyed Harry appreciatively. "They go very well with your eyes and hair. Very powerful looking." she said.

"Hermione, why don't you tell them your idea for classes?" Harry asked.

"Okay, sure. I'm sure everyone's come to the conclusion that since we aren't part of a house we don't have a schedule," she began, the others nodding their assent, "We can't let an entire year be wasted, though. We've all got some sort of specialty, I think. Harry's amazing with defense and runes, I'm good at arithmancy, Neville's a whiz with herbology," the typically shy boy blushed and smiled, "and the twins are amazing at potions. Luna, do you have a specialty?"

The other girl thought for a moment. "Yes. I inherited my mom's talent in spellcrafting." she said, her voice wavering at 'mom'.

"We're fairly good at spellcraft too." the twins offered.

"Good. I propose that we all teach classes to each other. Neville could help with herbology, I'm sure the house elves and the room can provide greenhouses for that. One or both of the twins could teach potions and help with spellcrafting, I'll teach arithmancy, and Luna can teach us how to make spells. Harry can teach us runes and defense." she put forward.

"That sounds great." one of the twins spoke as the other sipped his coffee.

"I've got another idea." Harry said nervously.

"Do tell?"

"Well, I've been learning the animagus transformation from Professor McGonagall," he began, the twins choking on their drinks, "and I think I could reliably teach it. We don't have all the core classes so some of us could pick up an extra class."

"I'm good at charms!" Neville piped up from his writing.

"If one of us dropped the spell class they could teach transfiguration. That's another one of our specialties." a twin decided.

"Perfect. So that's settled, I think. It's past breakfast time in the Great Hall, shall we head to the kitchens and get something?" asked Hermione, Harry's stomach rumbling its agreement.

"I could definitely do with something to eat. I'm sure Dobby-" he cut off as the house elf appeared next to him.

"The Great Harry Potter Sir calls?"

"Oh, good morning Dobby! We were just going to get some breakfast. Could you help us with that?" Hermione quipped.

"Oh, yes, of course. Anything for the Great Harry Potter and his friends." the tiny elf enthused.

"It's just Harry, Dobby." said Harry, exasperated by the titles beings everywhere seemed to love piling on him.

Dobby's eyes brimmed with tears of joy. "The Great Harry Potter allows an elf to call him by his first name! Harry truly is the greatest wizard alive!" he shrieked before disappearing.

Luna fell on the floor and began crying with laughter alongside the twins. Neville giggled a little, smiling at the elf's enthusiasm. Hermione rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile.

Seconds later a door appeared to the right of the fireplace. Dobby popped in, bowing and opening it, the door leading to a dining room.

"Right this ways." the elf exclaimed before vanishing again.

"Well, I suppose that's one way to get breakfast."

When they had all eaten their fill, they sat on the central couches in the common room.

"So, since we've got to have classes, I suppose we should start making rooms to teach them in. Thank goodness for magic." Hermione said from her place on Harry's lap.

"Yup. This room is amazing. D'you think we could get a Quidditch pitch if we asked for one?" Fred asked. On cue, a door appeared.

"Wicked." the twins grinned.

"While that's certainly interesting, we should stick to more required options." Hermione said before concentrating. A hall opened where the dining room had been, doors absent from its walls. "We need a potions lab," she began, the first door appearing, "a spell room for charms, transfiguration, defense, and spellcraft. That leaves the greenhouses and maybe a dueling room. Oh, and some windows as well - there's not nearly enough natural light in here."

For the next hour, designs were changed and changed again before finally settling on a comfortable informal room. Three couches formed a half-circle in front of the fire, staircases leading from either side of the fire up to a loft with hammocks. A library sat on the left side of the room where light shone through large windows. On the right, the stairs to the dorms ascended. Between the stairs was a hall leading to the classrooms.

In turn, each room was explored. First the spell room; a large room with targets and tables. The next was the potions lab, which was full of desks with transport tubes and cauldrons sitting in pleasing patterns. A small cupboard was full of ingredients, something Hermione was quite confused about. Where the ingredients had come from was unknown.

For the duelling room, they had a raised platform; runes inscribed around it forming a protective circle. Rulebooks sat to the side and chairs were positioned around the sides. Finally, they came to the greenhouse, a marvel to behold.

No plants grew yet but it was beautiful inside. The clear walls showed them on a hill, overlooking the lake and the castle, but there was clearly not a greenhouse when they looked through the common room windows.

"How does that even work?!" Hermione cried in confusion after her third look.

"Probably charms." the twins said.

By the time they'd finished exploring their new house, it was almost time for lunch. Dobby had offered to bring lunch to them again but they decided to show up in the Great Hall. Fred and George mentioned a prank on the whole of three schools and Harry couldn't help but crack a grin, his inner Marauder wanted in on this.

o0O0o

As the first people arrived in the Great Hall they knew something was off. Nobody bothered counting the tables. When everyone was seated and eating, a group marched into the hall, sitting at a fifth table donning purple and white.

Silence filled the hall before confused chatter started up, everyone wanting to know just who they were. The professors seemed especially confused, McGonagall taking note of the Gryffindors at the table before her brow furrowed and she looked at the Gryffindor's own table. The Headmaster stood and after several seconds, the students quieted down.

"Would you care to explain what a fifth table is doing in the hall?" the elderly man said, eyes twinkling at the prank.

"Why yes, sir." the twins began.

"Gryffindor house cast out Harry Potter under the pretense of breaking the rules to enter the deadly Triwizard Tournament. Several of his friends followed, a Ravenclaw even breaking from her house to join him. They formed a temporary new house by the name of Scamander, with a niffler as our mascot.'

Professor McGonagall gasped before glaring at the prefects of the house.

"Our common room lies on the seventh floor by the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. We were unable to attend breakfast as we were sorting out the arrangements in the house, but upon request, Hogwarts granted us our own table." the table took turns explaining in a manner similar to the twins' shared speech.

"Fascinating. May I ask why a niffler?" Dumbledore beamed.

"Of course. Nifflers are known for their desire to seek out shiny objects, and Harry is going to win that golden cup"

"An apt creature, in that case. I congratulate you on your new houseship and wish you a fortune-filled year. There is only the matter of a head of house to resolve, please see me after lunch and we shall assign one."

McGonagall stood. "Thank you, Headmaster." her Scottish accent coming out in full form as it did when she was angry, "Gryffindors. Immediately after classes, join me in the common room. There will be a reckoning, I am unsure as to why Mr. Potter was cast out and I do not particularly care. That is not how Gryffindors should behave, I should have been notified if anything was to happen."

Lunch that day was louder than usual and several interested students came to the table. Beauxbatons' champion came by to ask if it was normal at Hogwarts for bizarre events to happen every day.

"Only when Harry's around! Lady luck seems to have an odd thing for him." the twins laughed.

"Lady luck better keep her hands off my Harry." grumbled Hermione, provoking fresh laughter.

"'Ow curious. Would you mind if I sat wiz you all?" the champion asked.

"No, not at all. Feel free to." Harry responded.

"Zank you. I am Fleur Delacour, though you probably remembered my name from ze Goblet. I must apologize for my actions last night, after thinking about it I realised it would 'ave been impossible for you to enter your name. Though you may be a leetle boy, I 'ave 'eard of your adventures. Eet will be an 'onor to be your opponent."

"Likewise. I forgive you for last night, I understand the shock you must have felt."

They chatted amicably amongst the table until the end of the meal, when the group had to meet Dumbledore.

"Au revoir, 'arry." Fleur called over her shoulder as she left for whatever the Beauxbatons students did during the afternoon.

o0O0o

"Good afternoon, Scamander House." Dumbledore addressed cheerily. "Wonderful prank, twins."

"Thanks, Headmaster!" the twins smiled.

"While I would love a chat, there are more pressing matters to attend to. Do you have a candidate for your head of house?"

"Yes, we would like the Sorting Hat."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and laughed, a deep booming sound that echoed through his office, Fawkes barking a laugh as well. Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, he assented.

"While that would be fine, I suggest you come up with another head of house. Perhaps Newton Scamander himself? If I recall correctly he lives in Dorset. Oh, and you'll need a schedule." Dumbledore suggested.

"That's a wonderful idea! I'll start writing a letter immediately!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing Harry by the hand and starting to dash out of the room.

"Wait! Tell him about your idea!" Harry said, smiling at her enthusiasm.

"Oh, okay. But we really should get that letter going." she allowed, telling the headmaster.

"That's quite a good idea. I approve, though your head of house will have to make it official. Until then, the Sorting Hat can be your interim head of house."

"Yes!" the twins cried, jumping in the air and hugging each other. Luna jumped in as well, the three teens falling to the floor with squeals permeating the air. Neville looked as though he wanted to join in but was too shy to.

A/N: It took me far too long to get this up. About a day to write and 4 days of editing followed, but I was still unsure of uploading it. But eh, what's the worst that could happen?


	5. Marauders

Disclaimer: To my dismay I was notified that I don't own the series. What a shame.

 **A/N: Sorry it's late. Life is crazy. On the upside, I'm immensely happy to say we've reached 300 followers and 30,000 views! And now, time to burrito making.**

Chapter 6: Marauding

The atmosphere in Gryffindor Tower was tense, to say the least. Each student that stood before McGonagall had their head bowed, looking at their feet as she glared on in disapproval and quiet fury. All except one, Ron Weasley had his chin held high as he met her gaze.

The professor's nostrils flared, her temper catching up to her.

"Mr. Weasley," she all but shouted, "just what are you so smug about?"

"Harry has been acting differently for the past few months and this was the final straw. He doesn't deserve to be a Gryffindor anymore than a Slytherin does. The others should be thrown into Hufflepuff," responded Ron, his smug mask widening.

"I've not an inkling of what you are referring to, Mr. Weasley, as he's been more of a Gryffindor than I've ever seen. Perhaps you're simply mad at him due to your obvious infatuation with Ms. Granger?" she leered at him, his face paling as faces turned to him.

"Professor, I'm not sure that's quite appropriate-" a sixth year prefect began, cutting cutting off at her glare.

"What's not appropriate is throwing a student and several of his friends from Gryffindor based on unsubstantiated evidence! I have never been so ashamed to be a Gryffindor as today. The house of the brave and courageous should not be the the house of the dull and unthinking!"

"Now, hand over your badges! Each of you! At this moment I'd rather trust the Slytherins!"

Gasps resounded. Ron turned redder than his hair. The prefects blanched and gaped, surprised by her vicious tone.

"Surely you can't mean that?!" cried the same prefect, ignorant to the glare on his head of house's face.

"I do, and if you would be so kind, badges! Now!"

o0O0o

The letter had been written and packaged; Hedwig was off delivering it as of now. One Newton Scamander would be receiving that message in just a few days' time. Meanwhile his house was getting up to all sorts of mischief, much of it courtesy of the wonderful Marauder's Map.

"Hey, look at this, Harry!" Fred called, though they only knew it was Fred because Harry had pranked his hair black and checked the map. The twins had pouted and said that they couldn't do twinspeak without looking exactly the same.

"Where?" the boy in question questioned, wondering what the now goth twin was looking at ("If I really must have black hair, I suppose I'll just have to go goth. I imagine the school will take it as a wonderful prank.)

"Right there. McGonagall in front of all of the students of Gryffindor, I can imagine she's giving them quite an earache," George laughed in mirth, glad the unloyal Gryffs were getting what they deserved.

"Wait, shh!" shushed Harry, a glint in his eyes signalling the terrible joke that he was about to make.

Both twins groaned.

"Listen, I think I can hear her from here!" he joked, the twins sending sidelong glances at him though their eyes betrayed their amusement.

"If you're ever going to be a true prankster you really, really need to work on those jokes," the redheaded twin said.

"Too right, brother of mine. That was painful."

"Come on, I can't be that bad. Hermione wouldn't tolerate me if I was."

"I don't tolerate you, Harry, I just tone you out." Hermione peeked over the couch, laughing at Harry's kicked puppy expression.

"Toughen up, love, the twins have a point. I think you've used that joke ten times since we left lunch."

Harry pouted but didn't respond.

"And there's Dumbledore, sitting in his office, and Trelawney, predicting the future (badly)," Harry wondered for a moment how Fred managed to speak in parentheses, but continued listening,

"and there's Barty Crouch Jr. teaching defense…"

"Wait a minute, what the hell?" the entirety of Scamander house said in harmony.

Ten minutes later they were on Dumbledore's doorstep again.

"Come in, come in." the elderly wizard spoke, his voice seemingly on the door itself.

"Ah, Scamanders! To what do I owe the pleasure?" the headmaster laughed, enjoying every second of the new house.

"Well, sir, we've found a minor discrepancy in the defense classroom."

"Of course, my boy, would you mind showing me?"

Harry handed the map to Dumbledore, pointing at the dead man's name.

"Oh, how I love the things those Marauders invited. How peculiar."

"You know about the Marauders?" Harry questioned, the twins opening their mouths at the same time but closing them as he spoke.

"Of course, they did attend my school for seven years. What liveliness they brought here. That's a story for another time, however. Say, Harry, would you mind if I borrowed this for a while? I may be able to renew it and give it some new features, though I would probably create a replica in order to ensure this copy is safe. I assure you, you'd get both back."

"Of course, professor. I'd love that, though I'm afraid some of us will have to use other methods to ensure our safe passage to the kitchens for midnight snacks," allowed Harry, a pointed stare at the twins sending their elder into chuckles.

"Guilty as charged," the twins offered.

"I'll investigate the matter involving young Mr. Crouch, though I may be forced to stay my hand." the professor admitted.

"What? Why?" asked Hermione, shocked at the idea of the headmaster's inaction.

"Well, my dear, if I were to confront him he may attempt to escape or harm students. I'm sure that if he wanted to harm students, or perhaps a particular student, he would have done so by now." responded the aging warlock.

"That's sensible, I guess." Luna spoke calmly, but sent a look at Neville.

"I… You better make sure he's not able to hurt anyone, headmaster. We're dealing with a supposedly dead man who tort… who tortured my parents." the young man stuttered, likely in shock from the discovery of his parents' attacker.

"Of course. So long as I am in this castle there will be no danger to anyone. I won't allow any more mistakes to happen." said the man with a pointed glance at Harry.

Idle chit chat followed, but the group soon had to leave. Right as they left the office Harry recalled a certain tangy sweet.

"Accio lemon drop!" he called over his shoulder, a bark of laughter emerging from the headmaster.

o0O0o

Classes were once again in swing, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang sitting in on a few, but Scamander House was clueless about it. They were busy learning dueling from Professor Potter, a subsection of their new Defense class. The class had starting with a loud duel between the twins, which Harry had swiftly put a stop to.

"Woah, woah, woah, hold on a minute. Both of you are being far too loud. Volume doesn't have an effect on your magic, in fact, it might even distract you," Harry educated, "Try again, this time quieter."

"Sure thing, boss."

This time the duel was almost silent. One twin to the next shot spells, until something bizarre happened that silenced the both of them shortly before the others' stunner impacted.

Harry's eyes were wide. "What in the hell was that?"

The spells had nearly hit each other, launching face first at each other, but spiralled around the other at the last moment.

"Well, that was pretty."

The group (save for the still-stunned twins) laughed. "Luna, you're a riot," giggled Neville, though he'd insist it was a manly laugh, "But as our resident spellmaking expert, what do you think that was?"

Luna fell backwards, a comfy seat appearing as she fell. "Well, it's probably more of a wandmaking thing than a spellcraft thing, but if I had to guess I'd say it had something to do with them being twins."

"Perhaps Dumbledore will have some input?" said Hermione, "We've bothered him enough today, though, so I think we should wait a bit. It's probably not a big deal."

Harry and Neville agreed as they cancelled the stun on the twins. Neither redhead remembered how they'd been knocked out, but both were pleased that the other had been as well. All of them agreed that the twins should no longer be duelling each other.

"As fun as it is to hurl abuse at my lesser half, I don't think it's in our best interest to duel each other."

"Hey! I'm clearly better! Look at how handsome I am!"

"Gred, we're twins."

When their banter subsided, they realized they were alone.

"Huh. I could have sworn we had an audience. What say we find them?"

o0O0o

"Harry, will you pleeeeease help us find our animagus forms? It totally has applications in defense! Say, for instance, I was an owl. If I could fly I'd be able to escape attacks!" pleaded Hermione, her eyes shining and wide with her hands on Harry's.

"Yeah, mate. I don't think I'm quite a bird but if I was a wolverine or something similar, I could dodge and get through small areas!" added Neville, interested in the prospect of being an animagus.

"You're definitely not a little wolverine, Nev. You're a bear of some sort." said Luna in a dreamy voice, her eyes unfocused and staring.

"Huh? Luna? Are you okay?" asked Neville.

"Hm? Did I say something? Oh, dear. I hope it wasn't embarrassing."

"Luna, you kinda drifted into a trance. You looked at Neville and said he was a bear of some sort, it was kinda like Trelawney, but more real and less obviously fake than her. Is there any Seer blood in you?"

"Yeah, on her mom's side. Sorry, Luna." Hermione said, a sidelong glance thrown at the younger girl. "Anyway, Harry, pleeeeeease?"

The wizard sighed. Learning to be an animagus was difficult work, he'd barely gotten anything yet. So far the closest he'd come to the transformation was a feathery texture on his arms. "Okay, fine. It's hard work, though, and I'm probably not the most qualified to teach it. I can give it a try though."

o0O0o

The twins found them meditating in a room that hadn't been there when they left. It had taken them over an hour to search the castle, dinner would be coming up soon. On the plus side, they'd struck an agreement with Peeves for a new prank and managed to scare Mrs. Norris.

"Well, that's interesting. What're all of you doing?" said Fred, the entranced students startling as the unexpected voice arose.

"Jumpy, are we?"

The group filled the twins in on what had been going on, with the pranksters joining them afterwards. The room alerted them that it was dinnertime after what felt like minutes, each person confident they'd made some progress towards their inner creature.

o0O0o

"Harry?

"Hm?"

"Is there any way for you to get out of the tournament?" his girlfriend asked from her space behind him, arms holding him close. She knew the chances for him being able to get out of it were minimal, it would have been written about or Dumbledore would've known.

"There isn't. Believe me, I've looked…"

"I had a feeling that'd be the answer… I didn't want to believe so. It's just… People die in these tournaments. That's why they were outlawed. After the mistakes the ministry has made over the past three years, and now this, I don't trust them to have made this safe. I'm scared."

"Mione, that's why we're training. My animagus form will probably show itself before those twenty days are over. From what I've seen, it's big. Big enough to survive anything."

"But it could be anything!"

"Mione, do you remember second year? When I was bitten by one of the deadliest creatures known to wizards, thought to be unsurvivable, and then lived to tell the tale? I'll be okay. I might not come out without scars, but I'll come out alive."

She didn't respond verbally, choosing instead to mold her form to him. Several minutes passed into their comfortable embrace before they finally slept.

o0O0o

The next three days passed uneventfully, Harry's form yet eluding him. The others had progressed past the first stage, but were nowhere near discovering their forms, which would be at least a month still. Luna, despite her showing her real personality, occasionally went into a trance during the meditation sessions for their animagus forms. On one of these occasions she spoke aloud, startling the group.

"That's it."

She claimed not to remember what she was talking about, but Harry had a feeling she was lying. A few hours later he cornered her.

"Luna, I can tell you know what you remembered. Please tell me, it could help with finding your animagus form!"

"We've known each other for less than a month but you can read me too well already. Harry… I don't want to. I know what my form is but I don't think I'm ready to tell anyone."

"If you're certain…"

She embraced him, hugging him tight. "Thank you."

o0O0o

"Hey,"

"Harry?"

"We'd like to run something past you." the twins spoke in harmony.

Harry was swinging back and forth in one of the cozy hammocks the room had provided. "You do realise I'm not your head of house? You don't need to run it past me."

The twins glanced at each other.

"Well,"

"You've got a point,"

"But we think it'd only be prudent to run our prank by someone descended from the great Marauders."

Sighing, he acceded. "If you must. What's the idea?"

"We've come up with a potion that would change the colors near you. It's not permanent; we'd like to use it on the Slytherins and make them Gryffindors for the day. Maybe the Gryffindors could do with some stuff as well."

"Huh. That's pretty interesting, makes me even more glad that you're teaching us potions."

Hermione called up from the chair below the loft. "He's right, I think I've actually learned something from your class instead of a book!"

"We're flattered."

Meanwhile in a room nearby, Luna had a peculiar hat on her head. Peculiar in that it was ancient and wise.

"So, you're not Godric Gryffindor embedded in a hat?"

The hat groaned in frustration. This child was enraging, her incessant questioning was getting on his nerves. He thanked Godric he didn't have nerves to begin with. "No, for the final time, I am not Godric Gryffindor. I'm not even his hat! I was created a century after the final founder died! Before you ask, no, I can't tell you who made me nor why they made me."

Luna sighed in disappointment. She'd been hoping he could tell her more about himself, replicating such a powerful artifact could teach her a lot about enchantments. More than anything she wanted to have something to call her own; an artifact capable of searching someone's soul to tell her about them would be immeasurably useful.

Putting the hat down she stared at her notes. Long though they were it told her little, soul magic was highly guarded. Perhaps Harry knew something about it? She doubted it, though she knew of his relation to the Black family. In that moment she realised what she could do.

Tossing her interim head of house to the side, she shifted her room around her. The Room of Requirement liked her for reasons she couldn't determine, another reason she was determined to learn soul magic and make an artifact to read someone's soul.

'Dear Sirius Black,

My name is Luna Lovegood, I'm a good friend of Harry. I'd like to think so at least. I know you're on the run but Harry's told us a lot about his favorite godfather; someone who has resources immensely useful to a Ravenclaw. You see, I'm attempting to create an enchanted artifact, one with the power to read souls. While I've got the Sorting Hat to study, he stubbornly refuses to tell me what enchantments exist on his fabric.

The Black Family Library is well known for it's immensely dark nature; soul magic being considered dark, I'd assume you've got quite the collection of books on it. Mostly I need books on runes and the like, I'm only a third year - I don't know much about those subjects. Any help you could give me would be appreciated greatly.'

Satisfied, she asked Dobby to bring it to the owlery and get an owl to deliver it. She wondered briefly how owls knew where to go, perhaps a bloodline enchantment?

Picking the hat up from where he'd landed, she delved into the history of Hogwarts.

"How old exactly are you?"

"Oh, 6000 years or so. I've lost track over the seasons."

Luna laughed, of course the hat would have an odd sense of humor.

"Why do you laugh, child? I don't kid you, there have been six thousand generations who I've read and assigned."

"Hat, it states directly in Hogwarts: A History that Hogwarts was founded in 990 AD. You're not fooling me. And you mentioned you were made only a hundred years after they died!"

"Preposterous, the castle Hogwarts was built by the druids of yore. Hogwarts is hardly a Latin name, is it? We weren't created by Romans, that's for sure. As for Godric, he was a druid as were the others. Their names weren't Latin either."

"Why don't you simply read my mind for the information? I've read the whole book, there's my proof."

"I cannot! The mind and the soul-" he cut off suddenly, "Bloody, insolent whelp! You did that on purpose! I am strictly not supposed to tell people about my enchantments!"

"So, you do read souls and it is an enchantment that allows you to do so? If you're not oathbound to silence then why mustn't you tell anyone?"

"The druids were the first mages, as your History of Magic class should have told you. They were more powerful than any mages since, shaping the island we lay on through rituals."

"Well, our class never told us about that nor did I know anything about the power of druids. Hat, would it be possible for you to teach us history?"

His anger at being tricked now replaced with fury at the state of history, he accepted. "I can indeed teach. If you haven't learned of that, of what have you been taught?"

"Mostly goblin rebellions, though most children know nothing of it. Professor Cuthbert Binns teaches us, he's terribly dull and sends most of us to sleep."

"Cuthbert Binns… Cuthbert Binns?! There's been a single Cuthbert Binns at this school, and he was at this school over four hundred years ago! Surely they don't let a ghost teach such an important class?"

"They do, I think it's got something to do with budget cuts and the board of governors."

"Budget cuts? Board of Governors? I must be terribly behind on this school's state of being. Hogwarts has no maximum budget, it's attended by over four hundred students and the cost of attending isn't cheap. That's not to mention the private coffers of the founders that were drained into the vault for the school, which should easily fund the school. As for the board, Hogwarts should not have a board of governors. Who is on the board?"

"I'm not sure, I know they're all purebloods and Lucius Malfoy was on it until last year."

"That explains quite a bit. A stunted history of magic would keep students from knowing of the true history of magic and the reason behind magic weakening."

"Why is magic weakening?"

"Very few students are powerful wizards these days. The more druid background they have, the stronger they are in most cases. You're stronger than most, the most powerful I've seen in many a year, however, is Harry Potter. His mother may have been a sleeping druid, which would explain the mark on his soul."

"Mark on his soul?"

The hat sighed. "Ignore it, I won't tell you any more about soul magic. You've given me much to think on, I would ask you to leave me be for some time so I may think of how to progress and return Hogwarts to her former glory."

o0O0o

Harry was thinking about his progress towards the animagus transformation. It had been a full week since his name had come out of the goblet and he'd been steadily gaining land on the transformation, McGonagall was rather impressed that he'd gotten so far already. In just three weeks he'd managed to get immensely far, she estimated that he'd complete the transformation within the next two weeks; just in time for the first task.

As he sat at the front of the room, his friends in front of him, he wondered just what their forms could be. Hermione could be anything; perhaps an owl? She was certainly smart enough to be one, and a raptor would suit her well.

Neville could be a bear, like Luna had apparently seen, bears were versatile and strong. His love of herbology would also fit with a bear, though that wasn't to say he couldn't be anything else.

Fred and George… There were a number of mischievous animals they could be, he supposed they could be terriers or maybe laughing hyenas. He was certain they were some sort of dog, really nothing else would fit them. If they were as dimwitted as they often made themselves out to be, perhaps they would be a pair of chimps, but they were really rather intelligent.

Luna was the only one he didn't have an idea about. He'd known her for but a few weeks, and though they were close, she was an enigma. She was wise one second and playful the next, sometimes sarcastic and sometimes serious. Her mother's death was a part of her as much as any other part. Some sort of polecat, maybe?

As for himself, the creature he caught glimpses of still eluded him. The size of it was odd, it felt huge, he felt fire on several occasions, and he knew he had wings. If he had scales or legs he'd say he was a dragon, but magical creatures were extremely rare.

After lunch, Luna sought him and Hermione out. She found them sitting in front of the windows, admiring the grounds of Hogwarts. Though normally the trees would be losing leaves by now, the magic field around Hogwarts imbued the plants; they weren't without leaves until the first snow of the season. Greenery was framed on either side by the purples and whites of the common room, a nice contrast.

"Sorry to interrupt your couple time, but I need some help with runes and finding some enchantments."

Hermione sighed, still annoyed slightly about Harry's talent in runes, but leaned into him. "It's okay, Luna."

"What runes do you need?' Harry asked, standing and offering a hand to Hermione.

"Well…" their youngest housemate bit their lip, nervous, "I need soul runes. I'm trying to make an artifact that can help you understand yourself or others."

"Soul runes? That's pretty dark stuff, but an artifact like that would definitely have potential." said Hermione, unfocused from the extended period of time she'd spent just staring at the grounds.

"Hm… We'd yet to go over that in the runes class before we'd left and I'd started teaching you guys. I read the textbook for this year and last year, only once were they mentioned. Maybe the room has books on runes we could use?"

Books flew from the library, landing on the couch.

"Neat." said Harry, staring at the books and reading their titles. "Sálrún - A Guide to the Language of Souls, that should have what we're looking for. Are there any other runes you think you'll need?"

"I'd like to have some sort of data recording, if I could get readings on someone's soul and have them recorded… The tactical advantage of that is immense. We could even perhaps tell if people were alive, or what their abilities are. We know now that Voldemort is still alive, we could find out what's keeping him so and easily find and destroy it."

"You're right, that does have a lot of practicality. Tell you what, we can all work on it together. A group project." Hermione added.

Luna beamed, working with friends was much better than working alone. Her friends would be a lot of help. "When do you want to start?"

"I don't think it'd be a good idea to start until after the first task, Harry's energy should be wholly focused on practicing." Hermione stated, firmly against anything with a chance to be detrimental to her boyfriend's wellbeing.

"Of course. I'd hate for him to be injured due to lack of practice. Speaking of that…" the younger girl trailed off, looking at the dark-haired mage.

Sighing, Harry extricated himself from Hermione's grasp. "I suppose I've lounged around long enough. Let's get to work."

A/N: Hey guys, it's been a while, hasn't it? While I began preparations to make a breakfast burrito, one which you may PM me for the recipe, I came to the conclusion that I've been going about this incorrectly. I've decided to give something else a try. If I have a 4,000+ word chapter with a suitable ending I shall upload it assuming it goes more than two weeks untouched. Past a month and I shall upload whatever I have. This will hopefully ensure I get a variety of different chapters in and it will allow me to keep my creative streak going, and hopefully ensure that you all don't get bored with the story because I never update it. Thank you for your continued patience.

By Authorial Decree, no chapter in excess of 4,000 words may go unpublished if the time without edits exceeds 14 days. For all chapters exceeding 2,000 words, you are required to publish them if a month goes by without a new chapter being released.

Your Benevolent Author and Resident Wandmaker,

Garrick Ollivander


	6. Wand Weighing

**Disclaimer: O merciful, wondrous gods of yore, I beg to thee, may these characters ever be truly mine?**

 **A/N: Woo! Onto Chapter 7 we go, with the sixth chapter finished and myself reinvigorated! Onwards to the end (which is probably around 550,000 words away, dear god what have I started)**

This was finished in a single night. 4400 words. Tell me what you think; now that I'm on a writing streak I might end up writing a lot more than I could ever entirely process.

 **Chapter 7: Wand Weighing With a Warp**

o0O0o

Harry and the twins laughed with glee at the Gryffindors' horror and hair. The Slytherins seemed both mortified and pleased. Slytherin colours on Gryffindor bodies? That was just wrong, but the horrified expressions on their rivals kept their mouths shut. As soon as the lionhearted clan had begun to eat breakfast their hair and robes turned silver and green, causing screams to erupt from their table and chuckles eliciting from the others.

Ronald Weasley, infuriated and red in the face, stood and marched to Fred and George. "You've gone too far! Fix this or I'm telling mum!"

The twins, cured of their incongruous hair, spoke in unison. "We're sorry Ronniekins, but we've no idea what you're talking about."

"Simply dreadful, being made to look like disloyal, jealous snakes, isn't it?" Harry chimed, grinning at Ron.

"You… you… You complete bastards! Just you wait, mum will hear about this!"

The owls chose that specific moment to appear, the white amongst the flurry of brown catching Hermione's eye.

"It's Hedwig! She's got a message from Newt!" the witch nudged Harry excitedly, dragging his attention away from the silver-headed prat.

"Oi! We were talking! Don't interrupt me! OW!" Ron shouted angrily, proving to be unwise when Hedwig bashed his head with her wings and elicited a shriek of pain from the silverheaded fool.

"Yes, we were, and now he's done. You were beginning to sound like Malfoy, all, 'my father will hear about this!' and everything," Hermione defended her boyfriend.

Ron turned and stormed away as Harry continued pointedly ignoring him.

"Gee, he's really been a prat lately, hasn't he?" Neville said as he transferred a slab of bacon onto his plate.

"It's quite odd, Ronald didn't use to have such a temper. I think maybe Harry's presence was a humbling factor for him," their ex-Ravenclaw compatriot theorised.

The raven-haired wizard at the table stared at the others for a moment, and when they'd cut the chatter he began to read aloud;

" _Dear Scamander House,_

I must say I'm quite honoured to have been chosen, nay, even considered to be your head of house and even namesake! It came as quite a shock to Tina, Pickett, and I. Though I'm getting on in my years I'm not quite old enough yet to be truly retired. Never too old for me.

You may expect me at lunch. I'm looking forward to another, longer visit even so shortly after my visit last year.

Yours truly,

Newton Scamander

Somewhere, in the chaos of the Great Hall and many eyes focused on Harry Potter and the rest of Scamander House, Draco Malfoy slipped out and vanished.

o0O0o

An uneventful day led up to lunch, the most notable topic being that it was the twin's day to teach. Between a joint transfiguration lesson between Harry and Fred, a Potions class taught by the twins, and another joint lesson of Luna and George for spellcrafting, the day was off to a good start.

Lunch arrived as their spellcrafting exercise came to an end, Hermione having developed the most flourished spell of them all; hers was a simple flick and twist but it let off a stream of water and fire. It was a simple combination of the _Aguamenti_ and _Incendio_ spells, with some edges needing polishing but for the most part, it was a powerful spell.

Lighthearted chatter was exchanged within the group and several students who had begun to sit with them; notably Fleur and Viktor. Fleur, now fully acquainted with the Scamanders, had even adorned her hair with a beautifully royal appearing purple flower in honour of the colour scheme. She'd been telling them about the oddity of their immunity when the doors to the Great Hall opened.

"We Veela 'ave our allure, which only affects zose who 'ave yet to find love. Eet is a sad fact zat so many are affected indeed. P'raps eet ees posseble zat all of you are indeed in love wiz somebody?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged happy looks, and though nobody noticed, Neville sent a fleeting glance at Luna.

"Oh, indeed!" a twin began to the puzzlement of the table.

"Of course!"

"How ever haven't we noticed?"

"We,"

"The Weasley Twins,"

"The Terrible Two,"

"The Menaces,"

"Are head over heels in love,"

"With Harry Potter!" the two finished in tandem, batting their eyes at the wizard in question. He groaned but laughed as well, producing an odd sound not far off from a choke.

Hermione threw her arms around him and stuck her tongue out at the twins. "Nope! You don't get a single piece of him!"

And with that, the doors to the Great Hall swung open to reveal a wizened wizard. Though he carried no staff he had the white hair and long beard often associated with magic users, and what appeared to be a stick on his shoulder.

"Good afternoon, Mister Scamander!" Dumbledore boomed cheerily, happy to see a former student, "Your house is in the middle."

"Thank you, Headmaster," the man called back, ignoring the echoes the sound made in the silent hall, "And Scamanders, how are you?"

"Wonderful, sir," Harry called, "It's an honour to have you here," he said, standing and clapping. The applause quickly swept through the crowd, to the abashment of the newest addition to Hogwarts.

"Thank you, thank you…" he said, colouring. The applause quite swiftly died down and he looked around a little awkwardly. "Goodness. Er, Mr Potter, where would I sit?"

"That's a very good question. I'm afraid I don't quite know. Hermione?"

Before the bushy-haired witch could respond, McGonagall had arrived. "Mr Scamander, I believe there is now a seat waiting for you," she said kindly, beckoning him towards the staff table.

"Oh, thank you, ma'am. Please, call me Newt. This whole 'Mr Scamander' business isn't quite my cup of tea."

"Of course, Newt. In that case, feel free to call me Minerva. We _are_ coworkers after all."

The man walked with the formidable witch to the table, which had expanded to fit him. He was sat next to Hagrid on the side closer to Dumbledore. Harry smiled, imagining the conversations that those two would have.

"I'll be interested to see how those two turn out together. Professor Scamander I suppose he is now, he helped get the Ban on Experimental Breeding passed and Hagrid certainly loves his wacky creatures." Hermione chatted.

"That gives me an idea. Seeing as how we don't have a Care of Magical Creatures class yet, I think he could help us out there and that would give him an official job here besides his head of house responsibilities. He's probably the most qualified person to have as a teacher," Neville spoke up.

"That's a good point, actually. That's a really good point! He's to Magizoology as Dumbledore is to the Leader of the Light," Luna pitched in.

"I'll approach him about it later today."

Lunch ended soon after and as promised, Harry approached their new head of house while the others made their way to the dorMs

"Professor, follow me. We've got our dorms and classrooms set up on a rather high level of the castle, out of the way of most traffic."

"Of course, Mr Potter. It's been an awful lot of time since I spent more than a few days within these grand halls."

Harry smiled and looked around the Great Hall as the walked towards the doors. "Grand they are," he agreed, before becoming more serious, "Now, we've got a peculiar setup for Scamander House. Because we don't want to shift around the entire schedule of the other four houses, we've decided each of us students shall teach the others. This leaves us in the situation of not having a Magical Creatures professor."

"Oh, that simply won't do. I suppose you'd like me to teach you?" the magizoologist chuckled, the twinkle in his eyes quite similar to Dumbledore's.

"Well, nobody could say you're slow on the uptake. Yes, we'd love for you to do so."

"Consider it done. I've entertained the idea of teaching here for quite some time, but never really had the opportunity. Even in my so-called 'retirement;' - for one never truly retires from something they love - I've been travelling. I spend quite some time in the Amazon these days, the creatures there are magnificent."

Chatter was slung back and forth between the two as they arrived before the Room of Requirement.

"Here we are, Professor. Our abode for the next months."

Upon entering the room, Newt's jaw fairly dropped. "That's quite an impressive set up you've got. How did you accomplish it?"

"The room itself provided everything. Allow me to demonstrate. Tell me, Professor, if you had to have an office what would you like it to be?" Hermione piped up from a hammock.

"Well, I've never been terribly fond of office settings, but if I had to choose I'd say a nice, open office with a view of, say, the rainforest. Lovely creatures there, I say," Newt began, watching with wonder in his eyes as a room opened up near the library. "Wondrous! Magnificent! I dare say in all my travels I've not seen a thing like it!"

"Yup. Everything we need is provided by the room, everything except food and living creatures. It can recreate plants for some reason, but we don't think the plants are edible or useful at all really. It's quite a shame. However, the greenhouse is actually showing some results! The room provided several seeds and stems that are growing into what appear to be fully functional plants," Neville enthused, his love of the subject bubbling over with excitement.

"Yes, this room does just about everything we need it to. Hermione tried to decipher how it works, but was unable to, to her immense frustration," Harry laughed, earning him a dirty glare from the girl in question.

"I think this will work just fine," Newt said from his office space, which upon inspection had full floor-to-ceiling windows displaying the gorgeous Amazon rainforest. The rainforest, Harry noted, certainly earned the _rain_ in its name.

o0O0o

Following a rather interesting session of Care of Magical Creatures wherein the newly dubbed Professor Scamander told of his work with the Ministry to control the Ukrainian Ironbelly population from 1914 to 1918, Harry and Hermione bid farewell to the house and began making their way to the Headmaster's Office, where they had been summoned.

"Ah, Mr Potter, Ms Po- Er, I mean Granger. How nice to see you," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, leading the blushing couple to believe his slip had been no accident.

"Good afternoon, Headmaster. What was I needed for?" Harry asked.

"Yes, that. The Weighing of the Wands ceremony will be taking place soon. I thought it would be prudent to tell you some of what happens."

The pair, now sitting in a comfortably wide chair together, nodded almost simultaneously.

"Harry, Garrick Ollivander will be officiating the ceremony, he may have questions about your wand. I advise you polish it before the ceremony starts; he does not take well to wands that have not been cared for properly. There will be a media presence, I was informed that it will be Rita Skeeter. She is not quite the kindest witch in the world, I would advise taking caution in her presence not to say anything that could be twisted into a story. Certainly don't let her get you alone for an interview."

"I'll try not to, thank you, Professor." Harry acknowledged.

"Just how long do we have until it takes place?" Hermione questioned in place of her boyfriend, for which he sent her an appreciative glance.

"Oh, a good hour yet."

The pair stood, straightening their clothes slightly from sitting rumples, bid farewell to the Headmaster, and left. Harry again called for a lemon drop as he left, prompting another hearty laugh from the warlock.

They entered the quarters again, greeting the others and sharing a hammock in the loft.

"What'd Dumbles want?" a twin asked to a strict reprimand from Hermione.

"You oughtn't to call the Headmaster that, it's not proper. Besides that, he simply called us down to tell us about the Wand Weighing Ceremony for the Triwizard Tournament."

"Hear that, Gred? Hermione's going to weigh Harry's wand! Tell us all about it, luv!" the other twin called from the couch, lazily staring at the ceiling.

Hermione went beet red, some of which was likely from laughter. Harry was an even more intense shade, looking as though he was trying to embody the colour scarlet. "Oi, you two! You're simply mad because your girlfriends don't spend nearly as much time with you!"

"Well, ickle Harrikins,"

"That isn't our fault."

"You were the one who dragged us into this mess!"

An hour of good-natured banter was exchanged before Harry had to extricate himself from the hammock, dumping himself and Hermione on the floor as was inevitable with such things. Hermione joined Luna and Neville in the rows of bookshelves as Harry left for the ceremony.

Were it not for the rather ridiculous looking woman standing before the door, Harry felt he would have had more difficulty finding it.

"Mr Potter, what a delight to see you!" the woman said, greed in her tone and her eyes looking as though they could turn into cash signs at any moment.

"And you are?" Harry asked, wary of the stranger.

The woman tutted, looking affronted, "That simply won't do," she complained, "I'm Rita Skeeter. Special correspondent to the Daily Prophet."

"Oh, yes. Well, I assume you're here to cover the Weighing of the Wands ceremony?"

"Why of course, but perhaps we could do a small interview beforehand? The wizarding public is simply dying to know a little more about you."

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline that, ma'am, the ceremony is starting rather soon."

"Oh, in that case, we'll simply have to do it after the fact?" she insisted. "Yes, how about that? Thank you, Mr Potter," she said, giving him not a moment to respond before turning and entering the room.

Harry rolled his eyes and followed her in. Beyond the doors lay the other champions, their headmasters, a few officials and the creepy man Harry remembered from getting his wand. Guiltily, as he walked towards the other champions, he realised he hadn't taken time to get to know Cedric like a good sportsman would. He'd make an effort later.

The room was cramped, for there was a count of twelve people in it. A rather paunchy looking man behind a smoking camera was eying Fleur, to Harry's slight annoyance.

"Ah, here he is! Champion number 4! In you come, Harry, in you come… Nothing to worry about, just the Wand Weighing ceremony, the rest of the judges are… Actually, it appears they're here already!" Bagman almost shouted, nervously shaking Harry's hand.

"Now, the Wand Weighing ceremony, quite simply put, is designed to ensure that your wands are all fully functional and have no probleMs"

Harry frowned as he realised he hadn't polished his wand, he'd gotten too wrapped up in the swaying of the hammock and Hermione next to him; the banter between the twins and them was a powerful distraction as well.

Dumbledore stepped forward, standing next to the seat Ollivander had appropriated for wand appraisal. "May I introduce Mr Ollivander?" he said before sitting at the judges' table. "He will be checking your wands to ensure they are in good condition before the tournament."

The ancient wandsmith's pale eyes looked at each contestant in turn. "Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have your forward first, please?"

She swept through the space between the champions and the desk he was sat at, holding her wand delicately and handing it to the wizened man.

"Hmm…" he said, twirling the wand in his almost skeletal fingers like a baton, embers of gold and pink flowing from the tip. He held it close to his eyes and examined it critically. "Nine and a half inches… inflexible... Rosewood. Dear me, a…?"

"An 'air from the 'ead of a Veela," she explained, "'eet was one of my grandmuzzer's."

"Yes, indeed," he responded, "Yes. I personally tend away from Veela hair cores, I've found they make for rather temperamental wands. But to each his, or her, I suppose, their own. It suits you well," he ran his fingers along the wood, checking for bumps or scratches; then muttered, " _Orchideous_!" and a beautiful bouquet of flowers sprouted from the tip.

"Very well, very well, it is in fine working order," concluded Ollivander, handing the wand and flowers to the French champion. "Mr Diggory, you next."

Fleur smiled prettily at Cedric as she flowed into her seat.

"One of my own, I believe," enthused the wandmaker with much more liveliness than before, "Yes, I recall it well. A single hair from the tail of a fine stallion, seventeen or so hands tall, tried to gore me when I plucked it, he did. Twelve and a quarter inches… ash… pleasantly springy… Fine condition, I must say. You treat it regularly?"

"Of course, sir," Cedric grinned, "Polished it last night."

Harry looked surreptitiously down at his own wand. He'd taken care of this one better than the original; it was rather shiny. A small smudge smeared along the wand, which he quickly rubbed off with the hem of his robe. Almost unnoticeable golden sparks swam through the air in front of Viktor's face, eliciting a smile from him. The bulky Bulgarian nudged Harry, a small shake of his head signalling amusement.

"Mr Krum, if you please…" Ollivander said, the Quidditch star immediately walking forward as a silver smoke ring dissipated. He slouched across the space, yanking his wand from his pocket and handing it over.

"Well, if this isn't a Gregorovitch creation… A fine wandmaker by any standards, even if his styling wasn't quite what I… However…" he spoke, running his fingers over the edges of the wand, checking it all over, "Hornbeam and dragon heartstring, correct? Ten and a quarter… _Avis_!" a flock of birds flew from the wand and twittered about as the wand was handed back.

"Which leaves us… Mr Potter." the man beckoned forth, hand outstretched. Harry felt somewhat apprehensive, what the man's reaction would be… Harry crossed the gap and handed the wand over.

"Quite beautiful, but not a wand I recall… If you don't mind, what happened to the last one?"

"It was incinerated during the debacle of the World Cup."

"Nasty business, that was… To the wand. Remarkable. Silver ashwood… Quite, rare, I must say. Griffon feather core. However… I sense something else. Similar to the feeling of holly and phoenix… a small bit of dragon, but not any core from a dragon… You said your wand was incinerated?"

"Yes, I did. If you're wondering, those are the ashes of my old wand," Harry supplied.

"Remarkable indeed. Perhaps you could visit my shop sometime, we could talk more about it. Silver ashwood, griffon and wand ash, twelve and three quarters… Somewhat flexible. Almost new in condition, to be expected, I suppose, but could use more polish," he said, observing it for a second more. "I am somewhat concerned, however, about the core change between yours and… The other. We shall have to talk about it when you visit me," the man continued, before flicking it and animating his desk.

Receiving his wand, Harry walked back to the group.

"That concludes the ceremony. You may return to your classes, though perhaps you should simply head to dinner - the classes are virtually finished already," Dumbledore told, waving his hand toward the door.

"Wait a minute, pictures, Dumbledore, pictures!" Bagman said with unending enthusiasm, "All the judges and champions. What do you think, Rita?"

"Er - yes, I suppose we should get those out of the way first. Then, some individual shots perhaps?" she suggested, eyes locked on Harry in a predatory manner that made him feel distinctly uncomfortable.

The photographs took far too long. Madame Maxine could simply not fit in the photo; eventually, she was told to sit for the pictures. Karkaroff twirled his goatee far too often for Harry's liking, something was quite simply off about Durmstrang's headmaster, like a bad movie villain. Krum skulked, sticking to the back of the pictures to Harry's surprise. Surely he was used to these by now? Harry supposed he was simply tired of all the publicity. Harry himself certainly was.

By some time into dinner, they were finally allowed to leave. All those, save for Harry, left immediately; Harry had an interview lined up.

"Let's get this out of the way quickly, I must say I'm famished and my girlfriend must be waiting on me."

"Girlfriend?" Rita spoke, recording it instantly.

Harry groaned.

o0O0o

Harry missed dinner altogether, returning to the dorm to find Hermione waiting on him.

"What took so long?"

"Pictures and Rita Skeeter. Woman's a menace, I swear. Some of the questions…" Harry shuddered, recalling her questions regarding his other 'wand'.

"Oh, that lady… If the wizarding world had libel laws, I'd sue her the second I got the chance."

"There's a queue forming for that," Harry responded, deadpan. Hermione laughed.

"I can wait."

The couple curled into bed several minutes later, talking idly before falling asleep.

o0O0o

Hermione was dreaming, a nightmare really. That terrible woman Rita Skeeter had written an article about her, highlighting all of her issues. Harry left her, and she was kicked out of Hogwarts.

She knew it was irrational, but it woke her anyway. Careful not to wake Harry, she got out of bed, pulling on a nightgown and robe; taking Harry's cloak. Without telling anyone where she was going she left, walking to the most isolated spot she knew of.

o0O0o

Harry woke, no warmth was pressed against him.

"'Mione?"

No response.

Rolling out of bed, he cast a _Lumos_ and looked around. She wasn't there. He threw on some clothes and walked down to the commons, finding again nobody. He rushed back to the room, nervous energy swiping sleep from him. No Marauders' Map greeted him in his trunk, nor did his cloak.

"Shit, where is she?"

"Harry?" Luna's voice called from the doorway.

"Luna? What are you doing up?"

"She's at the tower. Run."

"What?"

Luna's eyes closed and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Oh, shit. Really, really, shit," the pit in Harry's stomach threatened to devour him, he levitated the younger girl and placed her on the couch before running out of the dorm, running in the direction of the Astronomy Tower, where Hermione was likely to be.

o0O0o

Harry rounded the corner far too fast, feet sliding out from underneath him and ramming him into the wall painfully. He heard a sharp crack from his hand and it erupted in pain.

Before him was Draco Malfoy and below him a slumped form with frizzy hair. A knife dripped blood onto her body.

"Hermione," he whispered, tears filling his eyes. Absent-minded fury sent a whip of green magic soaring towards the murderer of his love; Draco being slammed into the wall and pinned there. The knife he'd been holding sliced his hand in half as he was held there, too tightly to even scream.

Harry crawled towards Hermione, cradling her head in his arms when he reached her. An ugly slash wound winded from her shoulder to her hip, punctuating in a stab wound at the base of her spine. In his magic he could feel her heart slowing, her soul draining away to wherever death lay. Magic coated her as the forlorn boy sobbed, his soul flowing over her in fury and self-hatred. Fury that the world was determined to take what little left he had; hatred that he couldn't stop it.

It was several minutes before McGonagall arrived in cat form, pulling Harry away from the frail body.

o0O0o

Hermione lay in the sterile environment of the hospital wing, life slowly fading. Her heart couldn't take the poison. Tears soaked her shirt from the boy at her side. He could feel her heartbeat, once, twice, and the next one didn't come.

"No," he shuddered, "No!"

Madam Pomfrey lay a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, she's gone. You must get up."

He turned towards her, "No! I won't let her die!"

"Tightly shut those doors of death! Take my magic, take my breath! Take it all to the very last! But please, o Death, don't let her pass!" he commanded, a lone tear trailing down his cheek. His eyes began to glow, magic so thick in the air the room took on an emerald tint. The atmosphere rumbled, the trees stirred, and a lightning bolt shattered through the ceiling and impacted the boy.

The windows blew out and the Forbidden forest shook; Pomfrey flying across the room, landing conveniently on a bed. Harry fell to his knees and an aura flared out from him,

In a webbed hollow, a gargantuan, ancient spider stared. Unnoticed by anyone nearby, his body grew a bit younger and stronger - the magic imbuing it with youth.

A centaur observed the sky, ripples barely visible in the air. "It is as Mars commands. Descended of a druid…"

Fawkes' flames flittered through the air, bringing Dumbledore with him. "No, Harry, my boy! Fawkes, his magic is running away!"

The phoenix lept from the warlock's shoulder, flames trailing him in his distraught state. Tears dripped onto the frail looking boy as the shaking grew more intense. Storm clouds grew denser overhead.

"Formare, et rore spissum, et obstringere manere, trahere tergum tuum!" chanted the aged wizard, looking as old as he truly was. "I command thee!"

Hermione's eyes shot open as Harry's fluttered closed and the boy collapsed.

 **A/N: I didn't finish Chapter 6 before I wrote those last two scenes. This came to me in a burst of inspiration, which I think may lead to me writing out random pieces of storyline before I upload anything new.**

I'm not sorry for the cliffy. Not at all. *mad cackling*


	7. Aftermath

**Chapter 8: Aftermath**

 **o0O0o**

Silence reigned in the ruins of the infirmary, protested only by the droplets of water descending upon those within. Dumbledore stood, his visage ancient and tired, hair turning to thick strands of wet hair as rain poured through the shattered roof. Harry lay prone, unconscious from the near meltdown of his core. Hermione stared, shocked. Somewhere nearby the warden of the hospital wing was waking up.

From the doorway looked in over a hundred students, confusion and shock engraved in their faces. Finally, a pair of redheads pushed through the crowd, followed by Luna and Neville.

"Harry? Professor, what happened here?" a twin said, shocked into seriousness.

"Come with me. Minerva, Newton, you two as well." the man said, gathering the boy in his arms. "Take hold of Fawkes' tail feather," he instructed, exhaustion written on him, and beckoned Hermione from the bed. She stood, eyes wide and looking for all the vocabulary she knew utterly wordless.

The small group took hold of the Phoenix and flash flamed away.

"Albus, what happened? How is Hermione here?" Minerva said frantically, observing Harry's limp form being placed on a couch. Drying charms soon cured their clothes of dampness.

"Harry saved Hermione's life. I've never seen anything like it, his core began to run away, and it nearly incinerated him. If it had completed its course it could have obliterated the castle, I believe."

"It would have _what?!_ " Hermione shrieked from Harry's side as the others stared, horrified.

"You heard me correctly," the aged man affirmed, "And my sanity is intact. After today I am convinced of a theory I've been developing. Now, if I am to share this theory with you it mustn't leave this company of people. I implore you, what I am about to impart regards the future of our world and the safety of Harry.

All those present nodded, dedicated to the wellbeing of their friend and student.

"Alright. I believe Harry is of druid descent," Dumbledore claimed to the shock of McGonagall.

"The power he knows not? Is that what you believe it is?"

"Indeed, Minerva."

"Could someone explain what any of that means?" the twins implored, confusion showing on their faces.

"Druids were the original inhabitants of Britannica, though little is known of their culture. When Rome reached the isles they destroyed the druids, mentioning only their magical strength - druids were much stronger wizards than the Romans were. Rumors persist that each druid had a special power, something unique to them, but nobody knows for sure what that means." the headmaster described.

"The Sorting Hat told me about the druids," Luna admitted, "I assumed he was joking."

"Ms Lovegood, would you mind explaining what he said to you?" Minerva asked.

"I'm looking for a certain type of magic for a project; the Sorting Hat seemed to be my best chance of learning about it. He claims that Hogwarts is 6,000 years old, built by the Druidic Civilisation long before Romans even existed. Apparently, the entire island of Britannica was shaped by them. Our perception of history is vastly warped from his point of view; I asked him to teach us History of Magic."

"Fawkes, would you get the hat for me? I have a feeling he will be helpful here." Dumbledore begged, the bird flaming through space and returning with a rather disgruntled hat.

"What do you need me for? So help me Godric if you ask me about soul enchantments…"

"No, Hat, it was I who sent for you. I need you to tell us about Druid Civilisation and Harry's status as a possible druid." Dumbledore informed the wrinkled cone.

"Er, if I may be so bold, I think I may be of some assistance here. You see, in my travels, I've come across some who claim to be druids, oral tradition has been passed down over time," Professor Scamander finally spoke up.

The Sorting Hat eyed him critically, before remembering him, "Ah, yes, Newton Scamander… Quite a brilliant student, but no drive for anything other than beasts. Yes, I think you may be of some use. To the matter at brim, Harry Potter is one of the strongest wizards I have seen in many a year. Stronger even than you, Albus, or the Dark Lord Voldemort,"

"I believe it is due to his mother's status as a sleeping druid, her line was of squib descent as much of Britain is today. Through sheer luck her ancestry was almost a quarter druidic, and the Potters are a historically druidic family. Harry's genetic makeup is about half druidic, but it appears his mother's protection manifested in his soul, causing him to be almost fully druidic. His green eyes are unnaturally vivid, a result of the magic in him." the Hat explained, drawing an unnecessary breath before launching into another verse of education.

"Druids have always had unique powers, though whether this is caused by their extraordinarily small numbers or something else is unknown. Either way, Harry's power appears to manifest in multiple ways. His magical core has been growing steadily, where most children fluctuate. His rate of growth is much faster as well. This has made his core larger than his classmates' cores by a significant margin, though his latent magic is even higher than that. I theorise that it is only due to his abuse as a child," the Hat glared at Minerva, who gasped and sent a withering glare at Albus before looking with sadness upon Harry.

"As I was saying, I believe his abuse as a child has led him to be less powerful than he otherwise would be. His latent magical core, for those who don't understand, that's the size of your potential core, is not only growing but already many times larger than his normal core. Another manifestation appears to be that his magical core grows with magic use. Not by a large margin, but there would have been a noticeable increase in his power around the end of the third year. I sensed the presence of over a score of dementors, which were assaulted by his magic shortly afterwards."

"Two marks stand out against his soul. A mark of Dragonfire and one of death, from what I understand the death mark was from the attack on him by Voldemort." the Hat finished.

The gathered people stared at Harry. If not for the pained expression on his face, one could mistake him for a peacefully sleeping teen.

"Well," Newt stated, "None of what I heard from the people I met contradicts that. Now that we understand more about his heritage and power, what does this have to do with the incident in the infirmary?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard for a moment, popping a lemon drop into his mouth. "The situation no longer seems quite as pressing as it was a moment ago. It appears that Harry's core is simply recovering, the magical burst from him-"

The Sorting Hat's screech took them by surprise, Neville fell over and Fawkes flapped into the air, shrieking at the hat, no doubt threatening it with unravelment and incineration. "You mean to tell me that the burst of magic I felt was from him, and solely him?!"

"Indeed," the Headmaster said, regaining his composure, "And had I not managed to stop it, both of his cores would have melted down and probably taken down the wards along with most of the castle itself."

"How did this happen?! Tell me!"

Dumbledore sighed, "Well, I may as well. I don't believe I've explained the situation quite yet as it is. Hermione was stabbed late last night, by one Draco Malfoy. He poisoned the blade and is currently awaiting trial in a ministry cell. Her heart stopped beating and her breathing stopped," Hermione paled at that revelation, "And Mr Potter didn't accept it. I believe he somehow called on his entire core, trapping her soul within her body and not only banishing the toxin but restarting her heart and boosting her life force."

The Hat remained silent, so the warlock continued, "I was in my office when a wave of magic swept outwards from the infirmary, I must admit I was confused and didn't act until a bolt of lightning struck the wing and I knew something was terribly wrong. Fawkes brought me there and I stabilised his core, which was rapidly melting down. I believe it would have escaped the confines of his body and soul, incinerating him and everything in the general vicinity."

"You say his entire core was melting down? Both latent and developed?" the Hat said gravely as the others listened intently.

"Indeed."

"Then you are correct in your assumption that it would have destroyed the castle. How long was the span between the event starting and you arriving?"

"No more than 15 seconds."

"In that case, his core is likely significantly drained. With the druid trait he has, I wouldn't be surprised if he overpowers spells upon waking. Place me on his head now." the Hat demanded, and it was done.

"Yes, yes… Almost his entire core," the hat muttered, "If what I sense is true, he may experience an extremely significant boost of power. His latent magical core is growing quite rapidly and his developing core is regenerating rather swiftly on top of its normal growth. It looks like it will take him a week or so to recover fully, and at the rate he's growing… By Merlin, his core could triple in size!"

The room was once again shocked.

"Just how powerful is that?" Hermione questioned, breaking out of her stupor.

"Well, not on the scale of Merlin, but that would make him probably the strongest wizard alive. He may have issues controlling it all. I suggest taking him somewhere safe to obliterate; otherwise, he might damage things you'd rather went intact."

Needless to say, jaws hung open at the hat's statement.

o0O0o

Hermione's hand fingered the necklace Harry had given her two months prior. She was seriously worried about him. The Hat had told them that he'd be fine within a week, but that would give him very little time to practice controlling his magic. He might injure himself or worse in the task.

She was also internally conflicted about her brush with death. In her memories, she could remember someone coming to take her away, but no details. There was an immensely bright light in front of her, and the person was leading her to it, but then a bolt of lightning hit it and everything went black. Wondering about the light did no good, as the memory was extremely foggy and frail.

Draco was also a conundrum for her. He'd always been a thorn in her side, but never quite murderous. His father's death had hit him hard, but even then she thought it would take him longer to devolve into madness. Currently, he was in a cell in Azkaban, and from what she'd heard he'd been raving like a lunatic. He got along extremely well with his aunt Bellatrix, apparently.

It worried her that he'd snapped so soon. Was it possible that other students might come after her as well? If Draco, the richest, pettiest snake there was could turn murderous would the others attack as well?

Worrying did no good, so when Cedric Diggory had offered to help raise the school's outlook on Harry she grabbed the opportunity with both hands. If they could make him out to be a nice guy, it would make the spawn of the Death Eaters even more hesitant to do anything drastic. It would isolate them even further from the rest of the houses, which isn't a very tactical move.

Only time would tell, and only time now could soothe her anxiety.

o0O0o

Cedric Diggory was a nice guy, generally accepted to be the best Hufflepuff had to offer. He was an excellent physical specimen and a powerful mage, easily capable of completing his courses with outstanding grades. With all of that in mind, he'd garnered quite a bit of school-wide respect that grew exponentially once the school's champion was announced.

However, being in Hufflepuff, he was an honest person. It felt bad that Harry was being disrespected so much despite his hard life.

"God, that Potter really messed things up, didn't he?" Zacharias Smith chattered, sitting in the corner next to a visibly uncomfortable Ernie MacMillan. Cedric rolled his eyes, Hufflepuff was tight-knit and loyal like siblings. However, that went with the issues that came with actual siblings, namely the annoyances you get from them.

"Zach, be respectful." he called from his armchair.

"Well, I'm right, aren't I? He practically annihilated the hospital wing AND he's lying about entering the tournament. Remember the whole deal with the troll in my first year, and the Quirrell problem? And in the second year, there was a basilisk? And last year, Professor Lupin turned out to be a werewolf! Oh, and he's been attacked by dementors! Trouble follows him like a lost puppy."

"Well, I can't argue with the fact that troubles dogs him, but remember that he charged into the bathroom to save his friend, Quirrell died because of Voldemort-"

"So he _claims_ -"

"- Harry killed the basilisk too and saved another student-"

"So he _CLAIMS_ -"

"-and last year, not only did he fight off the dementors, but he survived an encounter with Sirius Black! He's done more for this school than you have, certainly! Oh, and did you know that he lives with muggles? He probably didn't even know about the magical world before-"

"Preposterous."

"-he came to Hogwarts! Do you not notice that every year he comes back from break with more bruises and weight loss? I'm certain that he's got a hard enough as it is without you making it harder for him."

"I don't like him, Ced, and that's that."

"Zach, you're being ridiculous. Harry may have lied about entering the tournament, but why would you be so mad about that?" Ernie cut in, tired of watching the argument.

"Because it's dishonest, dangerous, dumb, AND he didn't share the knowledge of how to do it with anyone else!"

"You didn't even want to be in the tournament! It's super dangerous! I recall you saying you'd run back home to your mother if you were somehow chosen! Listen, I'm sure he's plenty scared of the tournament. He's probably wishing he didn't enter."

"Yeah, he might be scared, but he made Cedric not have as good of a chance of winning! Sorry, Ced."

"Actually, you've got a point. I mean, he's got more battle experience than any of us do. If he really did all that he says he did then he's got a rather impressive set of skills. Besides, what could possibly be so dangerous in the tournament that Harry Potter couldn't beat it?" Ernie pondered.

"I dunno, maybe dragons?" Zach proposed.

"Dragons. Dragons! Oh dear Merlin, if they've got dragons for the first task…" Cedric worried.

Hannah Abbott stared at the trio. "You're all ridiculous."

Cedric laughed as the other two gaped. "Oi!"

"One second you hate him, the next you think he's some sort of god! I swear, the magical world is completely bipolar when it comes to him."

Cedric doubled over with laughter, the entire common room staring at him now. "I'm sorry, it's just that you're completely right. Every year they swing back and forth from, 'Harry is our saviour!' to, 'Harry Potter: The Next Dark Lord?' Well, I for one have gotten exhausted from all the swinging," the unfortunate phrasing led to drinks being spewed, but Cedric didn't stop, "and I want us all to support Harry, or respect him at the very least."

o0O0o

"Hermione?" a timid voice said, the tired girl turning to look at the visitor.

"Ginny? What're you doing here?" Hermione asked softly, exhausted.

"I came to see Harry. It's been rough, you know. In Gryffindor. The place just isn't the same without you there."

Hermione sighed, "Is it really? I'd think it'd be much happier without us. They were the ones who-"

"No, you don't understand!"

"Really, I don't understand? Is that so? Then inform me, enlightened one," Hermione said, quietly infuriated, "How is it that I don't understand when I'm one of the people they actually _kicked out?_ Your house is supposed to be your family when you're away from home, and what an utterly _worthless_ family they turned out to be! Five days Harry has been dead to the world and nobody has visited except the ones who left with him."

Ginny was shaking. "I'm sorry, I just-" she turned around and fled the infirmary, sobbing. A pang of remorse twinged in her heart but she wasn't in the mood to apologize.

In the bathroom down the hall, Ginny washed her face but it wouldn't stop the shaking. She knew Hermione was right and that she was hurting because Harry was hurt.

As she looked in the mirror, she was filled with resolve. Ron would be getting an earful that night.

o0O0o

Ron Weasley was a rough time of it. His twin brothers were relentless in their pranking, angry at him for his thick skull and senseless comments. The girl he liked was with a guy who used to be his best friend.

His feelings were conflicted. On one hand, he thought Harry had lied about entering the tournament. He had also started dating Hermione! Mates just didn't do that to each other. That made him so angry he couldn't see - or think - straight.

On the other hand, though… Harry had nearly sacrificed himself to save her life. Ron wouldn't have been able to do so. When he really thought about it, it really took a ridiculous amount of love to sacrifice yourself for someone else. He hadn't seen it, but rumour was Harry had invoked some ancient magic to stop Death itself. If Harry was willing to go to such great lengths for Hermione, perhaps Ron could try to be friends again. It was the least he could do for someone who had been, or maybe still was, his brother in all but blood.

It also helped that Ginny had given him an earful that night about not visiting Harry. That girl could be intimidating sometimes.

o0O0o

' _Dear Luna Lovegood,_

 _As Harry's godfather, I'm required to do everything I can to help him. I don't currently have access to the Black Library, but I'm working on it. I think that your idea bears some merit, and reminds me of a similar project me and my friends worked on while we were in school. Ask Harry and Hermione to take a closer look at the Marauder's Map for some clues on how to build something that can read a soul._

 _For a third year, I'm surprised you know anything at all about soul runes. They can be pretty dark. Scratch that, most of their uses are extremely dark, darker than almost anyone is willing to tread._

 _When I get access to the library, I'll arrange for Harry to pick some books up from me._

 _P.S. Ask Harry how he's doing for me, would you? Respond quickly. I've got nothing to do, what with the hunt for me. I'm deathly bored out here._

Luna was quick to write back, asking a few questions about his personal knowledge of things that could be helpful.

She leaned back, sighing. Stress had clouded her mind for the past few days, Harry had shown signs of healing but her mind wouldn't rest until he was awake. In her mind, he'd taken a Guardian role - kind of like an elder brother.

o0O0o

Five days. Five days had passed since Harry had opened his eyes, and a little part of Hermione broke down every time she thought about it. The irrational fear that he'd never wake up nipped at her heels every time she saw him. She'd picked up his classes so they didn't lose out on anything, but he'd need to be caught up.

On the upside, his fever had all but disappeared. From what Madam Pomfrey could safely tell, his core was at normal capacity and rapidly growing. They'd both noticed things shifting in the infirmary, sometimes even bits of the infirmary healing. The scars of his actions were still not entirely healed, volatile magic residue had coated nearly every surface in the room. Slowly, it faded, but the areas where it was thicker had some oddities.

Hermione was extremely interested in the nature of the residue, and were it not for the explosive volatility if it, she would certainly have taken samples of it. She'd like to do some experiments and research into magic to see if she could develop, say, a potion to cure magical exhaustion using magic residue.

Perhaps the oddest was Snape, he had been acting even more snappish than normal. Rumors had gone around the school about him being livid with his house, to the point where a few studious Ravenclaws had measured a number of points taken and given by him and found that only Gryffindor had a higher point loss from him than Slytherin. He seemed to be favouring the Ravenclaws, though they admitted that might have been due to their own bias; they could collect more data for themselves, and they gained most of their points from answering questions.

The worried girl didn't spend too much time dwelling on the distressed teacher, simply chalking it up to Draco's insanity and subsequent imprisonment. She didn't enjoy thinking about Draco, it made her mind hurt - being killed and brought back to life just didn't happen, and yet here she was. It made her queasy.

o0O0o

Harry's brain hurt. The light was too bright, the bed was too scratchy, and something in his chest felt like an overinflated balloon. His toes were cold and his hands were hot, with his nose somewhere between.

Trying to speak made him realize the awful taste in his mouth, one of nutrient potions and hydration potions that only made his mouth drier.

 **A/N: I'm not certain I'm happy with this chapter again. I wrote more but still I'm uncertain. Chapter 9 will be up tomorrow.**


	8. Waking and Preparations

A/N: Finally started writing a new chapter. Hope to get a few hundred words written every day from now on, I've got a Chromebook which should help massively. Writing on a tiny little tablet was taxing on the run.

It seems the school year may be a bad time of year for me. Perhaps it's the firsties coming through, perhaps it's the chill of the season - either way, I've had bronchitis and pneumonia within the past month. It really isn't quite nice.

 **Chapter 9: Waking and Preparations**

There were not many experiences Harry would classify as horrible, after all, he'd seen how bad things could really get; but when he finally woke up from a magically-induced week-long coma he knew it was something to definitely add to the list. The fact that he even had a list pointed to how shitty his life could get.

As soon as he uttered a sound similar to a dying seal, a ray of happiness shone through all the unpleasant feelings.

"Harry?" Hermione said, doubting she had actually heard him say something after a week of silence.

The boy emitted another strangled grunt. He strained to say something coherent, uttering something like, "Ah ew."

"Water?"

He nodded slowly. She filled a cup with the liquid and put it to his lips, where he drank greedily. After a moment he coughed and spluttered, spilling the water on himself.

"Ah, jeez, what a foul taste," he rasped, "What kind of potions did she give me?"

Now it was Hermione making weird noises. Somewhere between sobs of relief, disbelief, and anger, she choked out, "Potions? You've been dead to the world for a week and you're worried about the taste of potions?" she laughed deliriously.

"Wow, I'm not sure whether to kiss you or smack you. You're so noble and brave and- ugh, Harry! You could have-" she calmed herself, taking a moment to regain her composure. "Harry, you nearly died. Dumbledore said-" she choked with emotion, her composure gone again, "Dumbledore and the Hat figured that the kind of magic you used could have destroyed the castle. That's how strong it was."

"Er… Wow. At least we're both alive?" he placated to little effect.

Hermione conceded that. "Yes, we're both alive, but it was extremely dangerous and _very_ dumb."

Harry set his jaw. He knew it had been dumb. He knew he could have died. But if he hadn't, she _would_ have died. She _did_ die! That was something he simply couldn't agree with, and from somewhere inside of him he got the words to stop it from happening. Still, she was right- it was dangerous and dumb. Now that he'd started to be a little more coherent, he realized that the same _whatever_ that had told him the words to say had also taken his oath seriously. It narrowly avoided taking all of his magic. He knew that at an instinctual level, like a prey animal who had escaped from the jaws of a beast.

He sat up and took Hermione's hand in his. "It won't happen again, then. Not you, not me- nobody we know is going to die. I promise."

A few stray tears rolled down Hermione's cheeks as she put her arms around Harry, hugging him tightly. It had been the worst week of her life, even worse than when she'd gotten to Hogwarts only to find that being a witch didn't make others like her. She dried her tears with the edge of a sleeve, sniffling a little but otherwise contained a little more.

Pomfrey, meanwhile, was preparing another set of vile vials. Potions didn't drink themselves. Interrupting the couple's hug, she promptly ordered Harry to drink them and eat the food she gave him to wash it down. It was understandably as vile as the first time, but at least the elves made good bacon.

"Cedric and I have been talking about raising your reputation a bit this year. We've both noticed how off and on the wizarding world seems to be about you, so we're hoping to see a change. Viktor and Fleur, they've been good too, helping their classmates understand what happened."

"That's awfully kind of them. Has anyone come to visit?"

"Luna has, along with the twins and the rest of the Scamanders."

"Good to know I haven't been forgotten."

They continued to make small talk as they settled back into each other's presence hand in hand. It was a nice, calming gesture, a way for Harry to get used to being conscious. He felt flighty and sore, likely because he'd been lying in bed for a week.

"Whew, I can't wait to get out of here."

"You know what Madam Pomfrey said, not until lunch. Even then, she said she'd prefer it if you stayed another day so she could make sure you're really fine."

"Yeah, but it's boring and I need to stretch. I've got the worst ache in the-" he stopped at the look from Hermione. "Got it. Lunch. Speaking of which, what time is it? I mean, she gave me breakfast with the potions, and she said not until lunch, but what time is it really?"

"Actually, breakfast was eaten in the Great Hall almost two hours ago. Lunch isn't for another three hours."

Harry groaned, another three hours in bed? On any other day that would've been heaven but not after more than a hundred hours in bed. On the bright side, he had Hermione for company.

It didn't take long for the infamous Weasley twins to show up. In their typical fashion, they informed the two that they'd been in the kitchens for a little extra food and had been told about 'the Great Harry Potter sir is awakes!' Even if Harry thought they were a little crazy, you just had to admire the house elves' enthusiasm.

"We'll go-"

"Spread the word."

In that way, the Weasley twins were similar to elves. Always enthusiastic and full of energy. Loyal to a fault and extremely clever.

In their absence the couple sat in comfortable silence, waiting for the time to pass. Fleur came by to wish Harry well, noting that he seemed healthier - likely due to her Veela ancestry and having a closer connection with magic, sensing Harry's strength.

More interesting was when Ron came by. He seemed noticeably distressed. Fleur's aura came over him and for a moment his eyes glazed over, but much to the surprise of all present he pulled his eyes away from her and focused.

"Harry, I, er… I wanted to apologize for being a prat. It's not right how I've been acting," he said, ears scarlet.

Hermione snorted, but Harry spoke up. "I'm not going to say it's alright, but I think I can accept that apology. I don't know if we'll immediately be best buds again but I certainly won't begrudge your friendship."

Ron's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I get it. I'll, er, leave you two to…" he trailed off, leaving the infirmary.

"Zat was almost impressive. Per'aps 'e iz not as much of an imbecile as I thought," Fleur said, looking mildly annoyed. Harry supposed being ignored by someone might be slightly unsettling when you're used to being the center of attention.

"I'm not so sure about that," grumbled Hermione, understandably more upset with Ron than Harry was. "The idea of being chosen by him and not being allowed to date anyone else - the nerve!"

Fleur bid them farewell and began to walk out, bumping into Cedric along the way - Harry wasn't sure if it was just his imagination but he was sure he saw her cheeks turn red. Perhaps something would come of that, he'd be sure to keep an eye on that.

Cedric, on the other hand, seemed to be flushed for a totally different reason. He leaned over, breathing heavily. "Harry," he gasped, "Hermione, they're coming, the school-" he took a long breath. "The Weasley twins got it out that you're fine and now they're all coming to see him."

Harry laughed. "Madam Pomfrey is going to have an aneurysm,"

o0O0o

Meanwhile, in a dark classroom not far from the infirmary, a meeting of undoubtedly mischievous intent was taking place.

"Alright, Peeves, we've got a proposition."

"Yes, ickle pranksties?"

"See, our mate Harry's been having a rough time of it.

"So we'd like you to leave him alone for a bit."

"And what does Peevesies get out of it?"

The red-cloaked heads turned to each other and then to the bag between them. Opening it, they allowed the poltergeist a peek inside.

"Dungbombs, 200 of them. This cost us quite a bit, so use them well."

Peeves cackled and took the bag in his ethereal hand. "Yes, this will do."

"Oh, and one last thing - we've told everyone about Harry, he's just woken up. There should be a sizeable crowd going towards the infirmary right about now," they spoke in unison, the ghost zooming off the find said victims.

"Say, brother of mine, why do we have the cloaks?"

"You suggested them, didn't you?"

"Nope, it must've been you."

"Peculiar."

o0O0o

The disaster that would have happened at the infirmary was averted, luckily, by a surprise attack from a mischievous spirit. Filch was absolutely furious, threatening to hang the perpetrators by their toenails, shouting horrible things about the Weasley family.

After a brief lunch - Harry didn't have much of an appetite, and being constantly bothered by classmates for all manner of reasons was annoying - Harry decided to visit Hagrid. Hermione, despite itching to go to the library, went with him, "There's no way I'm letting you out of my sight, are you kidding?"

And so the pair went, ambling towards the gamekeeper's hut. The smell of Autumn was heavy in the air, leaves turning a vibrant array of colors as they withered. Harry smiled as he walked, the open air was nice. Being mobbed by people, especially after being kept in bed for hours, was suffocating.

A thin trail of smoke split the sky as they approached the hut, a welcome sight; Scotland wasn't quite the warmest place to take a walk. They knocked on the door and heard heavy footsteps before Hagrid opened the door.

"Harry, Hermione! Come in, it's grea' to see ya!" he boomed cheerfully, "The headmaster 'n I were jus' talkin' about ye!"

The two were ushered in and wrapped in a bone-crushing hug by the titanic man, then sat at the table with a rock cake and tea. Dumbledore was there as well, eyes twinkling in amusement for some mysterious reason as normal. Shockingly, it appeared he'd somehow managed to make the rock cakes edible - their surfaces were hard, but not quite rock solid. Taking a bite, Harry was disappointed, they may be less solid but they were no tastier.

"Harry, it's good to see you up and about. You as well, Ms Granger, staying at his side for a week can't be awfully good for your health."

The four engaged in light conversation for some time before the topic of Harry's magic came up. "Harry, my boy, does anything feel different than it did before your, ah, heroics, I suppose they could be called."

"Well, my muscles are a little tight from being in a bed for a week, but otherwise I haven't noticed anything."

"I apologize, perhaps I should have been more specific. Your magic, Harry."

Harry looked confused for a moment, then focused. His occlumency practices seemed a little stale, but he calmed his mind enough to feel his core. All of his focus fell apart in less than a second. His eyes widened and Dumbledore nodded.

"I would think so. You see, the Sorting Hat, as we discovered, is much more than a _sorting_ hat. When you were unconscious he requested that we place him on your head, and when we did, he told us something rather peculiar. Your core has a quirk to it. Now, all wizards and witches learn from a young age that magic is like a muscle - the more you use it, the stronger it gets, but you can strain it and damage it permanently. From what we understand, your core not only grows faster but doesn't seem to be damaged."

"Er, headmaster, that's just reminded me of something else the Hat said. He mentioned how Harry may overpower spells at first and I'd like to see if he will," requested Hermione.

"Oh, then it's good ya came ta see me! We could go ou' inta the forest, tes' his spells without bein' seen."

"That's a wonderful suggestion, Hagrid," commended Dumbledore, "Shall we?"

The four stood and followed Hagrid into the woods a ways, stopping in a slightly less forested area.

"I believe it would be smart to start small, in case your spells are stronger than expected. Any proposals for a spell to use?"

" _Avis_ and _Oppugno_ would be fairly safe, I'd say," proposed Hermione

"Commendable indeed," spoke the headmaster as he conjured a fleet of wooden targets for the birds to attack, "Harry, cast at your discretion."

Harry took a deep breath and held his wand in front of him before casting his spells, " _Avis_!" he shouted, a large murder of impressively sizable emerald-eyed ravens flying from his wand, " _Oppugno_!"

The conjured birds shredded the simple wooden targets, flocking around them in a cloud of black feathers. Several of the targets were lifted in the air where the birds fought over them, sometimes dropping them.

" _Finite_ ," Dumbledore said, dispelling the flock. He turned to Harry, a twinkle in his eye. "That was rather impressive, truly."

Hagrid was dumbfounded. "Blimey, tha's… Tha's somethin', Harry."

Harry barely heard, he was staring at his wand - it was sparking and steaming a little. Even without forcing all of his magic through it, the wand was hot. He wasn't the only one who noticed, either.

"Harry, it appears you may have outgrown that wand. Perhaps you should try a different wand - for the purpose of this test, however, would you be opposed to borrowing mine?"

"Are you sure, sir? I wouldn't want to be presumptuous," Harry said, much to the approval of Hermione.

"Good choice of words," she praised.

"I assure you it wouldn't be any hassle," the Headmaster said, handing his wand to the boy, "But do try not to scuff it."

"I- I won't, Professor."

"Now, perhaps we could try something a little more destructive?" Dumbledore put forward gleefully, hinting at maybe a side to him they hadn't seen. Perhaps everyone liked explosions. "A _bombarda_ , for instance."

Harry took a moment to process everything. Now that he was aware of core's new strength, he realized the dangers of being unpracticed. If he were to attempt a minor spell, he could overdo it and hurt someone seriously. An offensive spell like _bombarda_ could easily kill someone. Taking a deep breath, he pointed the wand at a place far enough away that he was certain nobody would be hurt by shrapnel.

" _Bombarda_!" he shouted, and the spell pounced forth. Upon hitting the ground about thirty meters away, it detonated.

If Hagrid had been impressed before, now he was positively stunned - there was a crater perhaps four meters across and maybe two deep. The crater itself wasn't the impressive thing, rather the concussive force it had generated. Harry's spell had created an air blast strong enough to strip several trees of their leaves, the intensity of it capable of uprooting the closest trees.

Dumbledore, meanwhile, had an extremely bright twinkle in his eye. "Very good, Harry. I've scarcely seen spells of that calibre, I imagine when you've got your core mastered you'll be quite the force to be reckoned with. Shall we test your defensive spells as well? Afterwards, I'd also enjoy seeing what you can do with transfiguration."

His _protego_ , while very powerful, was less impressive than his other spells, though it may have been simply the physical effects of the other two.

"Now, the transfiguration. First with a wand, then without."

Harry focused, feeling his magic, testing how much he thought it could hold. With a wand, he could probably do something much larger than a simple stone lion. As he began to cast, a form began to take shape, the ground lifting up and the trees bending to become scales. It took almost a minute to form, taxing him immensely, but the scale of it was worth the effort.

A sixty-foot long earthen basilisk rested before them, coiled around itself. Slowly, its head rose into the air, towering over even Hagrid, who looked like was clearly in awe.

"Goo'ness gracious, Harry," the half-giant spoke, looking almost average height next to the beast, "I've never seen anythin' like tha' before."

Meanwhile. Harry leaned against a tree, hunched over. Through his exhaustion he heard the praise of both Hagrid and Dumbledore, but more noticeably he was aware of Hermione's hand on his back.

"Professor Dumbledore, I don't suppose you've brought a pepper-up potion with you?" the girl asked, worried at the state Harry was working himself into. It simply wasn't healthy, and he _had_ just gotten out of a coma.

"No, I don't suppose I have. Had I known you would visit Hagrid and me during tea, I would have." he responded, raising a hand into the air. A flash of fire appeared and he vanished, appearing only moments later with the potion flask in hand. Fawkes, meanwhile, flew over and sat on Harry's head much to the amusement of Dumbledore and the perturbation of Hermione; at least until the bird began to sing. Harry perked up but didn't move, instead allowing the phoenix to finish its song. One peppermint-flavoured potion later and he was in a much better condition.

"Professor Hagrid's assessment of your skill was rather accurate; I've seldom seen such a large transfiguration, myself included. Now, for your wandless talent - something I rather envy, I must say."

"Thank you, professor," Harry said, concentrating for a moment before raising his hands in front of him. Slowly, the air shimmered into the vague form of a small dragon, larger by far than his previous wandless creations though. Focusing harder, the feeling of raw power in the air grew more palpable, coalescing into points along the surface of the intangible drake before a thunderclap echoed and a fully animated stone dragon stood before them. With a twenty foot wingspan, it was considerably smaller than the basilisk but just as impressive.

Harry himself was as impressed as the rest of them, even Fawkes wore an odd expression of surprise. The dragon, meanwhile, collapsed into shards of rock as the basilisk turned to loam.

Dumbledore was speechless. A dragon in itself was a difficult transfiguration for even a master, but to do it wandlessly was unheard of. That, in combination with its size difference from his previous largest wandless transfiguration and the ratio of wand to wandless, was almost unsettlingly powerful. It reminded him of another youthful wizard, the one who became the most feared dark lord in recorded history.

Grindelwald. His unstoppable power came from rituals and the darkest of magic, it was only through quick wit and reflexes that Dumbledore had beaten him. Dark powers had taken their toll on Grindelwald's body, but in Harry, there were no dark powers at work clearly visible. The potential Harry had seemed limitless, which indeed was cause for discomfort.

This was a boy with the power to change the world, for better or for worse. For now, though, he needed guidance - Harry would be a force of the light as he himself had once been.

"I believe we've seen enough for today, my boy. We shall have to look into your wand, and as the First Task is approaching it would be wise to do so with haste. Get some rest, and tomorrow, I think, you should go to Diagon Alley for a visit with Mr Ollivander. I'm sure he'll have some answers for you."

"Of course, sir."

"Er, Professor? Wouldn't Harry require permission from his guardians for that?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"Ah, yes, them. Don't worry yourself too much over that, I'll get it sorted out."

Hermione seemed like she wanted a better answer than that, but she didn't continue.

o0O0o

Tumbling through the fire into the Leaky Cauldron earned Harry a few stares. At some point, Harry promised himself, he would learn how to use the Floo system with grace. Grateful, at least, for the glamour, Dumbledore had put on his eyes and scar, he shook himself free of ashes and began the short walk to Ollivander's.

"Ah, Mr Potter! I did not expect you so soon, so I presume you've something to ask?"

"Oh, er… I suppose I do. Has the news of-" Harry looked around to make sure nobody was in the wand shop before casting _Homenum Revelio_ and finding nobody. "Has the news of Draco Malfoy's imprisonment reached the media?"

"It certainly has. They did not, however, release the name of who it was he attempted to murder; something I'm rather surprised of. Both that he attempted to murder someone and that the media kept quiet about who it was he endeavoured to kill."

Harry snorted derisively, "I wouldn't be surprised. Malfoy was despicable."

Ollivander looked down his nose at Harry, somewhat peeved, "Mr Potter, what do you know of the Malfoys? Perhaps, yes, he was spoiled and arrogant, but never murderous. I am good at reading people, child, and Draco Malfoy was not a murderer. It was never in him to do so, but I believe it may have been his father's death that pushed him to his breaking point. His mother was born to the Black family, and madness can often be seen written in their soul."

Paling, Harry remembered a specific member of said family, a member whose contact with Harry was mostly limited to newspapers at the moment. Swallowing, he resolved to send a message to Sirius as soon as he returned to the castle.

The wandmaker looked appraisingly at Harry, seeing his discomfort at the mention of the Black family. Ignoring his feeling that something was deeper than just the person who sold his parents out, Ollivander led Harry to the back of his shop; Harry explaining the predicament with his wand.

"Peculiar. In fact, I've rarely seen a case such as this. Would you be adverse to an examination of your wand as well as performing a spell or two?"

"Er, I don't think I would be, sir. I should probably warn you, though, that I haven't quite mastered my strength yet."

"Whatever do you mean, Mr Potter? Surely you've been in school for long enough to have…?"

"Oh, er," Harry froze, sighing when he realized he'd have to explain his core's growth to the wandmaker, "Well, there was an event that led to my core being depleted. Long story short, I went into a coma and my core grew to about three times its previous size."

Even for his age, Ollivander had heard many stories over the years. He thought he'd seen it all, but never had someone told him about their core changing so dramatically.

"Fascinating. I've never heard of anything like that, in fact. In most cases of an owner needing a new one, it follows a traumatic event or a sudden realization - something that changes who they are. But in your case, it simply can't channel your strength. Now, it isn't unheard of for a young wizard to release far more magic than they intend and damage their wand, but it appears that your raw output is above the capabilities of your wand, though an impressive wand at that."

"Now, as for a wand capable of dealing with strength like that, I'm not sure if an ordinary wand will do the trick. See, Fir or Cypress would normally be one of my first options for a person of above-average power, but in your case, even that might not be enough."

"So, you're saying I might not be able to use a wand without breaking it? Harry said, disheartened slightly. While he was capable of using wandless magic, learning to use it for all of his needs would be difficult.

"Don't be daft, Mr Potter. I am not known as the greatest wandmaker in Britain for my tendency to give up. While experimenting too deeply with wands can be dangerous, I believe it would be safe for you. At the moment, I'm thinking perhaps a wand of two woods and an off-trinity-core would work. Cypress and Elder would balance each other nicely, and I'm almost certain you won't have any difficulties taming the Elder side of it. As for wand cores, I'll have to think."

"When would I be able to get it?"

o0O0o

 **A/N: I sincerely apologize for any mistakes, errors, and f-ups I make.**


	9. A Black Interlude

**Chapter 10: A Black Interlude (Unedited)**

 **o)O(o**

Narcissa Malfoy was not a happy woman. Her husband was dead and her son was awaiting trial in Azkaban. Her family was either dead or in Azkaban, or in the case of the _head_ of the Black family, on the run. If she didn't do something now, she was as good as ruined.

Cornelius Fudge, meanwhile, was also down in the dumps. Several of his largest supporters were gone and he'd had to send a Malfoy to Hell on Earth. He was a Slytherin for the opportunities he took and the power he cultivated as he rode on others' coattails - not for his own genius. The idea of him being forced to gain that power once again terrified him.

Luckily for both of them, they had each other as friends. The last Malfoy was now meeting with the Minister, planning and plotting how they would return to power.

"Cornelius, we're both aware that this is as bad as it could get right now."

"There's no need to tell me, believe me when I say that I'm well aware of that fact," Fudge replied, his eyes beady and narrow.

"Please, Cornelius, it would be better for both of us if you do not take that tone with me. You know that I'm your last chance to remain in power," reminded Narcissa as his pallor turned an approximation of his hat, "You're going to have to do some things you would rather not."

Fudge groaned in a manner unbefitting his rather tenuous position. "And what would those things be, Mrs Malfoy?"

Taking a moment of thought, the woman made a decision. "The Malfoy fortune is likely closed to me, save for the fraction agreed upon in my dowry. However, the Black fortune is famously even larger, the second richest family in Britain after Ollivander. A minor complication stands in the way of us getting to the Black fortune - Sirius Black is still the head of the family as he was never put on trial nor convicted of any crime."

"Do you mean to say that we should put him on trial? Have you any idea what that would do to my office? It would be untenable! I would be run out of Britain at the mere suggestion of it! We shall not be-" he exploded.

"Tell me, Fudge, were you the one who failed Sirius?"

"Well, er, no," Cornelius admitted, beginning to calm himself.

"That would be our point. It was not you who put him in Azkaban, it was your predecessor. I suggest that you pardon him at the trial of my son tomorrow. You can explain that, during an examination of Azkaban's inmates, it was discovered that the previous administration did not perform a trial for Sirius, and that the 12 years he spent in prison are more than enough penance for whatever crimes he _did_ commit. Tell them a trial will take place and should he be found guilty, the Black fortune will be fined significantly."

Cornelius relaxed for a moment, before laughing. "Oh, you are a witty one, Mrs Malfoy. If I do this, I'll either be crucified or start on the road to being a saint."

"Ah, yes, but that's not all you've got to do. Your public image is extremely important and if you do this that will take a hit for a while, so you've got to start playing both sides of the board. Many purebloods died during the riot at the World Cup, so their agenda is being sidelined - I suggest work towards appeasing the muggleborns."

Fudge's face hardened. "Now, I'm not so sure about that."

"It's the only way, Cornelius. Work towards appeasing Dumbledore's side. You've always suspected him of wanting your position, so make the people who would vote for him want to vote for you instead."

Cornelius rubbed the bridge between his eyes, sighing. "If that's what you believe it will take to keep me in office - and in money - then that's what I'll do."

o0O0o

Poking through the brush of the Forbidden Forest was a large, scruffy black dog. Shredded trees and a crater full of interesting smells had drawn him here, his nose telling him that someone of vital importance to him had been here within the past few days - Harry, his godson. It had only been recently that Sirius discovered that his dog form could smell magic, which greatly confused him; magic scents were reportedly a distinguishing feature between non-magical creatures and magical beasts.

It was an enigma that brought him no small amount of confusion. Often, as a student, his friends had joked that he was a Grim, a relative of the hellhound. Grims were to hellhounds as Hades was to Thanatos in Greek Mythology, a particular interest of his as the Black family could trace their earliest ancestor to Skoteino Mavro, a Greek dark lord who had almost faded into obscurity. Mythology, as such, was of great interest to his family, as they believed the myths of their ancestors were not about gods but about powerful wizards.

Either way, magical forms were exceedingly rare and Padfoot had never shown signs of being anything other than an ordinary black mutt. He'd heard of animagus forms changing following a traumatic or life-changing event, but this was different. Sirius Black was no dunce, despite his actions, and he theorised that it could be due to his time in Azkaban. When around creatures of death and despair, could his form have picked up an attribute of his wardens?

All of these were simply passing thoughts of the man as he continued on the path to learn about his godson's wellbeing. An itch in the bond with Harry told him something was up, and the letters of Luna Lovegood told him that something had happened but Harry _was going to be_ fine. That implied he hadn't been fine at the moment.

However, the fragrance of the crater told him that Harry was able to cast spells. The itch was slowly receding now, but he wished he knew more. He worried, though, that sending a letter or note through anyone but Luna would be caught. After all, the daughter of an eccentric man, both of whom were considered to be a little off the beaten path, would never be the focus of a ministry looking for a convict.

' _Not a convict,'_ he thought, ' _A scapegoat.'_

Sirius was innocent of any crime they could levy against him, save for perhaps being an unregistered animagus. ' _And serial badass,"_ he thought to himself, keeping other, more lewd thoughts at the back of his head. If he was to be caught and given a real trial this time, he certainly hoped Amy Bones remembered the time he made her think of her last name in a wholly different light. On the other hand, maybe not - she wasn't very happy the next day when she couldn't find her undergarments.

Padfoot whined in a way eerily similar to cackling. Not even Azkaban could keep those kinds of thoughts away. In fact, his impressive list of lovers was one of the few things that kept him sane. After the first three weeks, he'd begun to retreat into his mind to relive all the great moments he had had during Hogwarts.

Of course, every time food came he was knocked out of his delusions once more as they turned demented and he was reminded once more of where he truly was. Not Hogwarts, not home - Home was with his brother in all but blood. A brother he'd never speak to again, a brother whose son he was sworn to protect.

Azkaban was a cruel place.

Shaking his thoughts off like he would with water, Padfoot found his way under a log to rest. Surprisingly, it was rather warm, far better than his drafty cave in the hills by Hogsmeade. Tomorrow he would search for more clues. For now, sleep.

o0O0o

Draco Malfoy sat in a chair, heavy bands around his wrists. He looked truly pathetic as he sat in a chair too large for him, a chair made for cold-blooded murderers. Ever since his father's death, he'd been battling insanity, and all too often it overcame him. Sanity was an important trait for Slytherins to have, lest they lose their ability to make logical decisions and manipulate those around them for personal profit.

Things just weren't fair. He'd lost his father and the grief of it was no tool to use as a weapon against his enemies. He heard that he'd even managed to kill the mudblood, but no, Harry _bloody_ Potter had managed to invoke magic unheard of and literally pull her from death's grasp. It was so unfair, he wanted to laugh, and he couldn't prevent it from slipping out, and just like that he went back under.

The members of the Wizengamot looked with a mixture of pity and disgust at the mad child. His wild laughter was more than disturbing, it had been a long time since many had heard insanity like that. Desperation tinged it, battling for sanity in a way characteristic of only the Black Madness. Bellatrix Lestrange had it, Sirius Black had it - albeit in different ways. It was clear that Draco was still fighting it, where Lestrange was already too far gone. Sirius, though, had always been winning the fight against insanity until the day his pictures for Azkaban were taken.

The trial was no spectacle, despite the well-respected individual on trial. Very few people remained who would be willing to openly support such a clearly deranged, dangerous person regardless of his youth. It wasn't until after Malfoy had been pronounced guilty and sentenced to ten years in Azkaban with the possibility of parole that the real debate began.

The Minister stood and unfurled a scroll. Clearing his throat, he began, "By Ministerial Decree, Sirius Orion Black is hereby pardoned of all crimes-" he spoke as the assembly erupted. A gavel banged and they fell into mutinous silence. "-as due process was ignored in his conviction. During a routine examination of the Prisoners of Azkaban, it was discovered that Black had never been given a true, just trial."

"Sirius Black will come to the Ministry and allow us to hear the true story of what happened. Reparations must be made and apologies granted, and the administration under Minister Fudge will receive him with open arms. We hope to redress the fault of our previous leadership. That is all."

o0O0o

Sitting on his haunches and staring at passersby was one of Padfoot's favourite activities. His resemblance to a Grim disturbed some, but it also gave him a good source of news and some scraps of food. Today, he'd had the fat off of some bacon and half a turkey leg. Aberforth seemed to know something was off about him, so he'd been kind.

Today, though, the news was better than the food. He'd heard his name mentioned multiple times already, and all of it pointed towards something fishy. After barely avoiding a dementor's kiss less than five months ago, he wasn't exactly eager to simply turn himself in. Perhaps Dumbledore would provide shelter for him if he showed up at Hogwarts?

After he'd pondered the situation, he began trotting the trail to the gates. In his head, he was still debating, but as he drew closer the scents began to grow more intense. Nerves jumped in his stomach as he went around the gates, moving towards the Forbidden Forest - he'd go to Hagrid, then Dumbledore.

A short walk later, he stood on the outskirts right behind the hut. Apprehension filled him as he ambled towards the door, head low and tail tucked between his legs. Fang barked on the inside as he pawed at the entrance, his heart racing. Hagrid was a kind man, but if he was recognized, Sirius wasn't sure what he would do.

He didn't have to wait long to find out. Before him, the door yawned wide and Hagrid looked out. Fang sniffed wildly as he tried to get out from behind the huge man. Confused, Hagrid looked out, to the sides, and finally down at Sirius. Vague recognition filled his eyes, and he beckoned Padfoot in.

"Ah, it's, er, you. Come on in," he uttered, pulling the wolfhound aside to make way.

Sirius padded in, looking up at the man, far, far up. Leaning back, he put his paws in the air and balanced on his hindquarters, still maintaining his gaze.

"Wha' is it, dog?" Hagrid puzzled. He'd had many guests over the years but never had a dog shown up at his house. Well, perhaps once or twice, but that was long, long ago. The last time a dog had come to visit, it was after a meeting of the Order, Sirius…

It clicked in his head right as Sirius transformed. The larger man's jaw worked for a moment before he could articulate anything.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah, that'd be me."

"Aren' ye supposed t'be on the run?"

"Not anymore, Hagrid. Have you seen the Daily Prophet today?"

"I can' say I have."

"Well, if what I could piece together is true, it said I've been temporarily acquitted or something along those lines. I also heard something about a trial, but... Hagrid, I'm suspicious. It's been 13 years since I should have had a trial."

"I think I'd be righ' suspicious in yer place too. Even so, I, er… Wha' are you _here_ for then?"

"I don't trust any news I hear on the street, entirely, but I'm tired of spending nights in the cold. I think I can trust Dumbledore to be fair with me even if the news is false."

"Good man, Dumbledore. Well, I'll see wha' I can do for ye. I've go' some tea on the stove if ye'd like. I'll try and get Dumbledore ou' here in a bit, he's jus' back from the Wizengamot," Hagrid said, guiding him to the table before beginning towards the castle.

Indeed, it was just a bit later that Sirius saw the swaying white beard of the wizened wizard, and the tension in his abdomen grew tighter. It took all his willpower not to hide in the corner as Padfoot.

For a hundred years it felt he waited as the door creaked open and the pair walked to the table where Sirius sat, shaking ever so slightly.

"Good afternoon, Sirius. It's been quite some time, has it not?"

Sirius' thoughts were somewhere excruciating between frozen and racing, before he knew it his mouth was running with his first thoughts.

"Where's Harry? Is it true?"

Dumbledore's eyes did not twinkle, but he smiled. "Harry is currently away from the castle, but he will be back within the hour. Yes, if what I think you are asking is true, you have been given a Ministerial Pardon. I think there may be more to this story than the newspaper reveals, though. Your cousin Narcissa has discretely taken her part of the Malfoy wealth and divorced the name. She may be a new power in the Wizengamot, and one you may have to watch out for - I am unsure of her plans. She may want you dead, but acquitted, so she may take the wealth of the Blacks as well."

Taking a moment to think, Sirius rubbed his temples. "No, I don't think Narcissa could do that. If she wanted wealth, she would have killed her family."

"Perhaps you are right. I urge you to be cautious nonetheless. Now, what is it that you require my attention for?"

"I don't trust the ministry. I've got issues trusting even you, Dumbledore. I can't go back to Azkaban, if this is a trap, I'd rather die," he chuckled without humor, "If I go back to Azkaban, I _will_ die."

Dumbledore frowned. "I will grant you asylum in the castle until we can discern whether or not this is a trap."

"And Harry? Where is my godson?"

"Interesting you should come here at the moment. He's in Diagon Alley right now, at Ollivander's."

o)O(o

Harry hadn't expected it to take so long. It had taken seven tries to get a functioning wand, with a total of thirteen different cores. The auspicious numbers had Ollivander excited.

"Alright, I've got a good feeling about this one," the man said, leading Harry to the back of the shop once more. "For this one, I'd like to test its strain capacity. I believe the best way to force your level of magic through the wand would be the manipulation of gravity."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, gravity. Warping space."

"Er… I've got no idea how I'd do that."

Ollivander explained his dabbles in muggle science, as well as his theory on how to perform a spell that would warp space itself. It was rooted in conjuration, but split at a vital part. Where a conjuration would give a specific form to the mass, a warping spell would conjure intangible mass in whatever orientation the caster intended. The density necessary for anything substantial was taxing, to say the least.

As soon as Harry began casting, he knew he wouldn't get any results from the spell, but was encouraged by the wand's survival. Even after he had conjured several tons of intangible mass, the wand was cool to the touch and not releasing and sort of sparks.

"That'll do," Ollivander hummed, "11¾, fir and elder, with a triple core of phoenix feather, serpent horn, and a single Nemean lion hair. That last one was quite difficult to acquire, so I certainly hope it goes to good use. Oh, what am I saying? Great things, Harry Potter - you'll do great things."

 **A/N: Finally back. The muse is seeking me.**


	10. Chapter Five of the Rewrite in Progress

First of all, I'd like to apologize for this being another author's note and not a legitimate update.

I've been a bad author. Lots of people said that stories which go on hiatus die off after a while. Well, that nearly happened - my Harry Potter craze chilled and I stopped writing.

But! I realized how important it is to me. With over a thousand followers and rapidly approaching 100,000 views, this is easily the largest project I've ever undertaken and I have a responsibility to you guys to produce content I can be proud of. In the current state, it is not good enough to accomplish that.

So, I'm rewriting it from practically scratch. Harry needs something to balance his overpowered-ness out. Hermione needs to be a stronger character and less of just a pretty face. Ron needs to have anger issues, and realistic issues considering his family dynamics. Draco can't be as unhinged as he is in my story, it's just absurd. The pacing is all wrong. As you can see, I've got a lot of problems with my own creation.

Now that I've taken some time to read some legitimately high-quality stories, ones with Harry as an extremely powerful being, I can see the errors I've made. Hint: Reading stories by robst is immensely helpful. They're such a good author it's astounding.

Alright, I'll stop rambling. My point is, I'm making changes. I went so far as to delete the entire prologue, which was pretty much just my spark for this story - a cold November night in 2016, I was reading the Goblet of Fire for the 19th time and had a concept for a flashy, cool intro to Quidditch World Cup, with no true bearing on the story. Since then I've grown as an author and even begun work on original stories with cooler original ideas. This story is not the best work I can put out and I am determined to give you guys something on or by July 4th even if it means being awake for the next week.

Also, should I just make a new story altogether and ask my followers to migrate to the new one, or should I remake this story to chapter 10 as I produce content for it? PM or review with your thoughts.

I'm already dreading the inevitable anger some of you will hold for this being a false update, but this is really the only thing I think I had the choice to do.

The Astoundingly Apologetic Author,

Garrick Ollivander


	11. Preview and Reviews

Alright, after reading all of your comments, I'm still uncertain. Does updating chapters through the "update chapter" feature remove reviews/views from the original copy? If not, I may simply rewrite the story in a similar fashion to its current form. I don't plan to change most of the story, only to change the pacing and make it more believable. For instance, here's an excerpt from my current Chapter One:

Harry had had a hell of a week. First, the Quidditch World Cup had devolved into madness, and then Ron had gotten his school books by Owl Order. The latter wouldn't normally have been a problem, far from it, really. No, the problem Harry was stressing over today was less on the problematic side and more on the unexpected side. Over the summer, Harry had forgotten to get his required source texts for the upcoming school year.

" _Well, I'd rather deal with this than another World Cup."_

Hence, Harry was in Diagon Alley alone for the first time ever, making his way to Gringotts. Molly, bless her heart, had given him some change to purchase his necessities, but Harry wouldn't have any of it. He knew he had money in his vault and he wouldn't take a penny from the family that had accepted him as their own. Arthur would have joined him were he off of work, but he wouldn't arrive home for another hour or two anyway; Harry had kindly declined Molly's offer to send someone with him, sure it would take less than half an hour.

Molly, being the mother hen he'd grown to love, wasn't satisfied with that. She'd made certain that he wasn't recognizable as the Boy-Who-Lived before he left. Harry had been more than astonished that she was able to tame his hair and cover his scar, but she chalked it up to simple experience - one simply can't raise six boys without learning a few tricks along the way.

"The trick isn't to make the hair lie flat, dear, it's a modified bubble head charm. The air itself keeps it down. And the scar! Oh, the scar is simple, just conjure a little piece of skin-tone paper and use a sticking charm to lie it down flat over the scar," she excused. Harry admired how simple she made it appear, though later he would try to imitate without any luck.

I feel like that's much better than destroying his wand and making him survive a dragon for no reason. This way, he has a valid reason to be in Gringotts, and his reasons for refusing money and companionship are going to be elaborated on later. He's an abused child from the Dursleys and I doubt he'd be comfortable taking anything from the Weasleys.

I'm thinking about including a modified version of Mrs Rowling's prologue as a way to introduce the canon of my story - thanks to SamanthaKasa for explaining the necessity of a prologue in relation to the original fiction.

Someone mentioned that the story isn't tagged as tragedy, which I will admit is one of my reasons for desiring a reproduction of the story. I went too fast and too crazy with it, and that's the result. So, I'd like to produce something believable with ways for Harry to grow and strain himself that don't include defying death with zero training.

I must also mention some of my inspiration for creating a believable and subtle transition from a teenage boy with very little that's impressive to a warrior that can wipe away the empowered Voldemort. _My Hero Academia_ is a good story, though unrelated to Harry Potter, is a good example of how to write someone with unbelievable strength as a compelling character.

With all of that said, and a preview of what's to come, I ought to leave this here. The changes I'm thinking of writing are written from the same timeline I've set out, and are more akin to a phoenix coming back to life than a whole other beast.

Thank you for your feedback and continued patience,

The Reborn Writer,

Garrick Ollivander


	12. New Story Going Up

It's the author again, and after about two weeks (?) of deliberation I've decided to upload a new story, which is the rewritten edition of this. Chapter One ought to be going up tomorrow and I hope to be more careful about my scheduling with this one.

I'd like to thank you all for your reviews and time reading this edition of my fiction. You guys gave me the confidence I needed to start writing. That should be all.

Thank you,

Garrick Ollivander


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